Four Card Keys
by WhiteFox176
Summary: The trio had finally settled down back home, thinking that everything was peaceful again in their world. That is until Emily dropped into their lives wielding a keyblade and spewing about people dressed in black robes. What kind of trouble is brewing again this time? RikuXOC and small SoraXKairi.
1. Ch 1- Why Didn't I Just Stay Home?

Whitefox: Hey everyone, I wrote this fanfic a couple years ago and it takes place between KH2 and KH3D. Also fair warning, as a college student it may take a long time for me to upload this story completely; since it's summer and I don't have many classes it's easy to write it again now.

Also I would really appreciate reviews to tell me whether this story is good or if I could use improvement somewhere ^_^, this's my first fanfic I've written so I'm very nervous on how good this story is or seems to be.

Disclaimer: I own nothing to Kingdom Hearts or Disney. I only own my OCs.

Enjoy everyone!

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**Chapter 1: Why Didn't I Just Stay Home?**

Emily's POV

I always loved to draw. Specifically clovers and to be more precise a gigantic clover key and a shining clover keyhole. I don't know why I liked clovers so much. It went far enough that my parents painted my room a light green with dark clovers scattered along the walls.

"Emily! Time for lunch!" That was my mother, Sophia but she liked to be called Sophie.

"Coming!" I yelled back. I took my sketch book, which was currently open to a half drawn clover key, along downstairs. Our living room was average sized; enough to put four chairs around our rectangular, cherry wood dining table that was currently covered in a table cloth with an intricate lace pattern.

"We're having pork stew tonight." My blonde haired mother said with her beautiful smile before going back into the kitchen.

"Yay!" I cheered taking a seat across from father, who was reading the newspaper as usual.

"Emily, stop shouting. You are inside." He said in his gruff voice while putting down the newspaper.

"Sorry daddy." I slumped in my seat not wanting to look into my father's coal black eyes; they were so brown they looked black, his beard only helping him seem more cold and cruel.

"Hmph, next time you won't get any dinner young lady." He told me crossing his arms in front of his lean body.

"Oh honey, lighten up a bit. She's just excited aren't you?" Mother said coming back with a pot with a mitten under it in her hands. As she was setting it down she gave me a quick wink, something she likes to do when she stops father from lecturing me.

After that we made small conversations while eating our lunch. When I was done, I took my dishes into the kitchen and washed them hoping that mother would let me to go into town because I did.

"Hey mom, can I go hang out with Hayner, Pence, and Olette?" I asked with my best green-blue colored, puppy dog eyes.

"Oh stop it. You know I can't refuse that face…alright you can go." My mother answered giggling to herself making her dangly, gold pearl earrings bounce around on her ears.

"Thanks mommy," I said giving my mother a hug. She returned the hug with her thin arms and long, slender hands. Before I left, I decided to change into more comfortable and less expensive clothing than my silk, ruffled shirt and black dress pants. I decided to change into my green khaki pants with black swirl designs on the bottom of the left leg and the right side. My shirt was a high V cut t-shirt that was black and had silver roses on the left chest area. I also grabbed a silver zip-up jacket that ended just before my stomach. Then I ran back downstairs and out the door, grabbing my sketchbook along the way as usual.

As I was walking in the woods towards the town, I noticed something different. I couldn't put my finger on what exactly, but the hairs on my neck were standing up. I felt more edgy than usual. So I decided I would take a short break and finish drawing my key. After what seemed like a few minutes I finished it. But I noticed there was something different. You see when I draw I'm not conscious of anything, including what I am drawing. I looked at the bottom of the key and noticed that there was some weird writing on it. It was on the end right between two clover bits on the right and the one bit on the left. I also saw on the guard of the clover key, where a gigantic clover and its leaves with a giant hole in the center of each was, there was a chain where a small black clover is connected to it. Everything else was the same, the fact that I shade the key black and have small, white clovers randomly placed and the clover keyhole.

Something then swooshed past me. I only knew because I saw my very wavy blonde hair that I got from my mother fly in front of my face when there was no wind. Jumping up I look around wondering what it was that just created that swish of air. I went in the direction my hair flew, to my right, out of curiosity. I kept walking that way until I reached a clearing in the woods. I found what seemed to be an abandoned mansion with a tall, black iron fence around it.

"Wow. This is an amazing building." I stood gawking at the old structure with vines growing up the walls.

Something caught my eye and I looked to find…well I'm not quite sure. It couldn't stay still whatever this grayish white thing was. Its mouth seemed to be zipped shut and its legs and arms were very long. What caught my interest the most was that it didn't have eyes and this tattoo thing on its head which was some weird pointed cross with the bottom split and curved upward.

As I stood there, frozen and gawking at it, it started moving toward me. When I finally realized that, I started backing up but with no chance of running away. A weird sound was made behind me and when I looked I saw more of these strange aliens blocking my escape route.

'_Oh man. I guess the saying is true. Curiosity did kill the cat, or at least it will.'_ My thoughts were running trying to think of how to get out of here. I tried throwing my sketchbook at one of these creatures but nothing happened. It was like they weren't affected at all. Then it attacked me. Holding my hands up in front of my face and closing my eyes I waited for them to kill me. But I didn't feel anything. No pain, no blood, nothing. I slowly opened my eyes to find myself still in the forest, holding my clover key I sketched earlier.

'_Okay. Its official I have to be dreaming.'_ I thought bitterly pinching myself to try and wake my "real" self up. The only thing that happened though was a jolt of pain through my arm and a now clearly visible red mark on my pale skin. Another one tried attacking me and this time I whacked it with my clover key. Wide eyed I found out that this key does damage to them.

"Alright come on you alien creature things. I can take you." Getting into a fighting pose with a new air of confidence now that I can actually hit them, I looked around. They all started coming at me then and even though I was hit a few times across my back and arms I managed to defeat them all. Turning around to leave I hear a creak from what I am guessing the iron gates. Looking back I find my guess to be true; it swung open, like it wanted me to go inside.

I went closer, all the while my logic screaming at me telling me to turn around and I had enough bad things happen from my curiosity. _'Well enough weird things happened and I have this key if those creatures show up again.'_ I told myself going inside the gates and up to the mansion.

The inside was just as beautiful and old as the outside. I walked around almost the whole mansion except for two rooms. I went towards one of the rooms when more of those way too thin and long creatures showed up.

"When will they quit?" I sighed and took them down in minutes. Spinning back around I opened the door and walk in to find a white room. It was the only room in the whole mansion that was out of place. On the walls were many drawings, most of them being people in black robes. There was a drawing of two of these people, one with blonde hair and the other with red. They were holding hands; could they be friends or something?

I left the room and started going towards the last room that I haven't seen. Pushing the door open I inspected the area. It was a study of some sort. On the walls were shelves of books and every space was filled. In the middle of the room was a table. Wait what was that? On the table was a drawing of some sort. Going up I went to take a closer look at it; it was a design of waves and swirls and in the middle three circles like an upside down clover with a heart and diamond on the top. Next to it was a pad of paper, with the same design on it. But this one had the heart and diamond on the top circles plus a spade on the bottom circle. Grabbing a piece of chalk on the table I draw the spade in the bottom circle just like in the drawing. As soon as I completed it, it started to glow.

'_Oh great more surprises.'_ My common sense was yelling at me for being stupid enough to do that. The floor started to glow but I didn't see and fell to the floor that appeared below. Having a sore rear, I got up looking around this new floor. There was a door on one end and I was wondering if I should go in it.

"If I do most likely more odd things will happen. But my curiosity won't subside until I find out what's behind there…" I started ranting trying to see if I should go or not. Finally my nosiness got the better of me and I went and opened the door and peeked inside. Nothing seemed out of place and it was safe enough so I walked in taking a closer look at the newly hidden room. It was very dreary in the fact that the walls and floor were all a dark grey and there was a bunch of broken screens and a chair in the opposite corner of the rectangular room.

Finally my interest was satisfied so I left to go find my group of friends. Exiting the mansion I run into a figure with a black hooded coat on. _'He has the same coat as the people in the sketches.'_ My body tenses at the presence of the figure and my whole being is screaming to run like hell away from this man.

"Don't run Emily." The hooded figure told me seeing the slight tensing of my muscles.

"How the hell do you know my name?" I respond scared out of my mind. I really needed to get away from this girl, I assumed after hearing her voice. Not waiting for a reply I turn to run only to see a black hole appear right in front of me. Within seconds I'm pushed into this darkness and it closes on me. All I can make out in this darkness are tunnels.

"This way." The hooded figure whispered hastily waving her hand toward and away from herself.

"Why should I follow you?" I asked frustrated.

"Because…you don't have any other option at this point?" She states uncertainly.

I stare at her for a minute or so before deciding that she's right. So we started walking again and after what seemed like a long time I finally see an exit, or that's what I hope. We get out of the darkness and the light temporarily blinds me. Once I regain my sight I don't see the hooded figure anywhere.

"Ahhh this place is beautiful!" I say in awe as I look to my left and realize that I'm on a beach and the water is a very gorgeous blue color.

"Sora wait up!" a red-headed girl called over to my right.

"Come on Kairi, we were supposed to meet up with Riku five minutes ago." A blue eyed boy, I'm guessing the one called Sora, shouted back.

"But I can't ru-hey I've never seen you around before." Kairi greets seeing me for the first time.

"Oh um. I'm Emily and I'm not from around here." I introduce with confused stares given in return. "Uh is something wrong?"

"Oh no it's just, how did you get here?" Sora asks me.

"This hooded figure brought me here through some kind of black tunnel." I answer a little unsure if I sound crazy.

"Oh my." Kairi says puzzled. She whispers something in Sora's ear and he nods his head in what I am presuming as an agreement.

"Well why don't you come with us? We're going to meet our friend Riku." The spiky brown haired boy asks grinning widely.

"Yeah sure!" I say returning his smile with my own. I followed them into a wooded building that had some stairs and at the top of them was a doorway. Going out I see a wooden bridge leading to a plateau.

"Riku!" Sora called out to a silver haired boy sitting on a sideways tree. He looked over and waved to his friends. His wave died down when he spotted me.

"Who's this?" He asked cautiously as we walked up to him.

"Hey I'm Emily." I greeted giving a warm smile.

"Never seen you around before." He said with a suspicious tone.

"She said a black hooded figure brought her here through a dark corridor." Kairi said shyly.

"There's no way! We defeated them all!" Riku hollered fists clenched.

"It's true though!" I shouted back, if it was one thing I hated it was being called a liar but then again don't most people hate that?

"Could another organization be forming?" Sora asked with a look that showed he was trying to think too hard for his own good.

"But why would they bring her here?" Riku asked in puzzlement as he studied me over and over again.

"How am I supposed to know? Kairi got any ideas?" Sora looked to the long red haired girl next to him.

"Not a clue." She said putting her hand on her chin in thought.

"Um, maybe it has to do with this key weapon thing I can summon…or I could summon anyway." I said trying to get the clover keyblade to appear in my hand again.

"A keyblade?!" they all ask in unison.

"Uh, yeah I guess. It's in the shape of a clover, I have a dr-dang it! I forgot to pick it up when I attacked those whiteish aliens!" I yelled in frustration while stomping my foot on the ground in a tantrum.

"Uh pick what up?" Sora asked.

"More importantly whiteish aliens?" Riku asked before I could answer Sora.

"Um I forgot to pick up my sketch book and the alien things were very slender and had long arms and legs and from my guess had ADHD because they couldn't stand still." I answered them both quickly in one giant breath.

"What's going on?" Riku growled to himself.

"Um. I can explain that." Someone said startling everyone and making Riku and Sora bring out their keyblades. "Ahhhh, don't hurt me." The hooded figure curled up holding her hands above her head.

"You're the one who brought me here." I gasped wide eyed, "So are you a good guy, er, girl?"

"Not entirely. But well I will tell you that destruction is upon you unless you seal the keyholes, you know the ones I am talking about. Oh and only the four chosen ones can seal their own keyhole. Now I gotta go before I get in too much trouble. You should know the rest there, Emily." The hooded figure told us before rushing off into the black hole that appeared before her.

"That…" Sora started to say

"Was weird." Kairi finished Sora's thought. "Well whatever the case is what did she mean you can only seal your keyhole?" She asked looking at me.

"Maybe it's the clover keyhole I drew with my clover key." I answered thinking back to my sketch. "But where will we find it and how do I summon my keyblade dang it?" I said stomping my foot on the ground again like a kid.

"Well I'm not sure to the first one but focus on the keyblade and you should be able to summon it." Sora explained in a matter-of-factly way. I did just that and it worked!

"Well maybe we should head to King Mickey's place to see if he knows anything." Kairi suggested with a sweet smile upon her face.

"Yeah." Sora and Riku agreed in unison.

As we sat down Sora looked back at me from the shotgun seat, "By the way, this ship is fueled by smiles so you gotta smile if you want to get there." He gave this goofy wide, almost Cheshire cat like, grin that I couldn't help but laugh at. "That's the spirit, keep it up." He laughed with me as we flew off into the sky.


	2. Ch 2- Pains of a Nobody

Whitefox: Hey everyone. Hope you liked the last chapter, and please review any comments you have on the story; good, bad, or indifferent are all appreciated to tell me how my first fanfic is going.

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**Chapter 2: Pains of a Nobody**

?'s POV

'_Where am I?'_ I thought to myself. I could feel myself floating but all I can see is darkness; darkness that's blacker than my short, choppy, onyx color hair.

"I see you're awake." A voice snickered.

"Who're you and where am I?" I whispered to the voice, still in a daze from waking up.

"My name is not of importance and you know where you are. Encased in darkness." The womanly voice cooed.

"How do I get out of here?" I asked the female that I couldn't see with my silver eyes.

"I can help you with that on one condition…you must help me with a goal in return." The voice said soothingly with a touch of venom to her voice making my decision hesitate.

'_Well I have no way else out and if I don't like what she's doing I can always run.'_ I reasoned through. "Alright I'll help you. Now get me out of here."

"Good~," the voice sang that somehow made me more relaxed on my decision. The next thing I knew a white light that was so bright I had to shield my eyes was coming at me. When I opened my eyes I found myself in a castle with many others standing in a line in front of me.

"Welcome~," a girl with hair that was emo styled and laid over one of her dark silver eye said in her unusually good soothing voice.

"You're the one that helped me out of the darkness." I said finally being able to put voice to body and feeling my violet eyes grow a bit wider.

"Yes I am. Now shall I give you a name or would you like to choose your own?" the woman asked almost mockingly while taking a hand and putting it on her chest where her halter top is.

"A name? Wait why don't I have one?" I wondered trying to think through memories, except I didn't have any before I awoke in darkness.

"Because you are a nobody like us. We were never meant to exist. We are empty shells created by those who lose to darkness." The woman explained solemnly.

I couldn't respond. I stood there speechless like a statue. It made sense but at the same time I didn't want to believe it.

"This is where we need your help," she continued seriously, "with you and your power by our side we can become of existence. We shall obtain what it means to be whole, a heart; with you on our side we can achieve existence, _Lyrixe_." The woman said emphasizing my new name.

I stood frozen in ice. _'W-why must it be I who can help them. Can't they do it themselves? But…I don't like being this "nobody" so I guess it's alright.'_

"Well?" the woman asked obviously getting impatient with the fact that she put her hands on her hips.

"Huh? Oh yes. Where and how do I start?" I stuttered, confusion taking place of my broken train of thought.

"First we must teach you to summon your keyblade and fight." the woman explains.

"Keyblade?" I was starting to worry if I really had made the right choice.

"Yes. Also since we are now allies I shall tell you my name. It is Vexa." Vexa gave a small bow before introducing me to the others. A spiky orange haired guy with a red fishnet top with white edges and black pants was named Phoenix. Another who was a punk cat guy with also an emo hair cut but it didn't cover his eyes was named Felix, ironic? Yeah I know. Standing next to him was a smaller girl in a white Lolita and black and red ribbon with long silver hair in pigtails was Xana. She had her hair behind a white headband with red roses on one end and black ribbon on the other. The last member, who was also a guy, was named Axshin and from what I understand it's pronounced _action_. This guy was wearing jester clothes is what I would like to think. In many triangles, it would be too hard to describe in detail, were shades of black, red, and white.

"Why are all of you wearing black, red, and white?" I said noticing the pattern as each member was introduced.

"It distinguishes us without looking suspicious." Vexa replied in a matter-of-factly way. "Where is Lexi? She should've been back by now." She started grumbling.

"Sorry! I'm here now!" another girl, I'm assuming Lexi, said coming through a dark portal. She also had the black, red, and white scheme but her clothes were looser, she wore shorts, and I couldn't even see her hands because her sleeves were so long. Her dull blonde hair with fire red highlights reminded me almost of an Egyptian because part of it in the front was put into thick tie like bangles and the back was in a loose braid.

"Where were you?" Vexa asked narrowing her eyes.

"I was uh, checking out the other wielders." Lexi stated shifting from foot to foot. Vexa must not have found where she was important for all she did was sigh and turn her attention back to me.

"Anyway, Lyrixe, find the power within you to summon the keyblade." Vexa instructed. I did as she said and before I knew it a spade…keyblade I guess it was…formed in my hand. "Good you're getting the hang of this quickly. Now, Axshin create an illusion for Lyrixe to practice fighting."

"Okay~ Ready Lyrixe?" Axshin said and created the illusion before even waiting for my response. The scenery changed to a forest and a bunch of clean cut logs stood straight up surrounding me. I started chopping down the logs in many different ways: spins, diagonally, vertical, horizontal, and a few times I tried some flips. I figured out as soon as I chop all the logs new ones appear in their place. I'm not sure how long I was in that illusion but once it ended I was left breathless and could hardly stand.

"You did very good Lyrixe! Why don't you stop for today and go rest?" Vexa said with a smile that looked genuine. I nodded in agreement and left to find a place to rest.

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Emily's POV

_Meanwhile at Disney Castle…_

"Sora! Riku! Kairi! What brings you guys here?" Chip asked running up to the two boys and girl, Dale following close behind.

"And who's this?" Dale asked seeing me standing behind them. They probably noticed my yawn too since I fell asleep on the way to Disney Castle.

"This is Emily. Emily this is Chip and Dale. They manage the loading dock here." Sora introduced with his usual goofy grin.

"Hiya Emily." Chip and Dale greeted in unison.

"Hi fellas." I greeted cheerfully, after finally waking up. "So where is this King Mickey?" I asked turning to Sora and Riku. I didn't know why but it seemed the moment I got here I started aching in pain and wanted to get off the island as soon as possible.

"He's this way. Come on." Riku instructed as he went up a set of stairs and through a doorway. Sora followed Riku with me right on his tail. As we walked further into the castle, my aches got worse and worse. After what seemed like forever I couldn't walk anymore and fell to my knees, pain written all over me.

"Emily what's wrong?" Sora asked rushing over to me as quickly as possible.

"Being here hurts. I can't keep going. There's just too much pain." I answered tears flowing down my cheeks.

"I'll go get Mickey. Sora, Kairi take her back to the ship." Riku said as he ran off towards the King's place. Sora picked me up bridal style and took me back to the ship in silence, worry etched onto his face. The entire way back was silence except the occasional question, "are you alright," from Kairi. A while later Riku and a mouse creature, that I am guessing was King Mickey, came through the doorway and down the stairs. At this point I was feeling better and able to stand with a smile on my face.

"You must be Emily. Nice to meetcha." King Mickey greeted sticking his hand out for me to shake.

"And you must be King Mickey. Honored to meet you." I replied cheerfully taking his hand, which was bigger than mine so it was kind of hard grabbing, and shaking it.

"Gosh, um. I don't know where to start. How about telling us where you came from." King Mickey asked me brightly.

"Um. It's called Twilight Town." I said and in return got weird looks. "What?" I pouted, obviously not liking the attention.

"Oh I'm sorry it's nothing. Riku said you came through a portal and you can summon a keyblade?" the king questioned changing the topic quickly before anyone could reveal too much.

"Er yeah. You mean to tell me you actually believe me?" I questioned shocked that someone actually believed me. Well, we're in a different world with a mouse, I guess anything is really possible for these guys.

"Well I have no reason to doubt you. Interesting though. Well gosh I'm not sure what to think of this. But I'll look into it." Mickey said to the two boys and Kairi.

"Alright thanks Mickey." Riku said in gratitude. Sora grinned behind Riku and placed his hands behind his head.

"Wait a minute." I said, curiosity taking over me. "Why does it hurt for me to be here?"

Everyone started looking around the room. I'm guessing they were afraid to meet my eyes with their own. Finally Riku spoke up, "It's because of where you live and what you are."

"Riku!" Sora, Mickey, and Kairi yelled at him. Sora had this face that had 'don't tell her' written all over it with his hands clenched into fists in front of him while King Mickey's was of pure surprise and Kairi's looked troubled.

"What do you mean 'what I am'?" I asked hesitantly, something telling me I was going to be afraid of the answer.

"I mean you have this darkness in your heart that reacts to the light within this castle." Riku explained.

"Eh? Wait why aren't you guys hurting then? Do you have some immunity?" I asked completely confused of the situation.

"No we just have less darkness." Riku answered.

Before I could ask any more questions Sora spoke up saying that we should be heading home now. So we bid our farewells to King Mickey, Dale, and Chip then headed off back to the boys' homeland. Thinking of home I started to get a little homesick. My mind started wandering off to if mom and dad were worried if I was gone or if they even noticed. Then it went to Olette, Pence, and Hayner. Just as my stomach started twisting and turning I heard a beeping sound, snapping me out of my thoughts that were out in space.

"Emily remember smiiiiilllllleeee." Sora said giving the same goofy grin. I gave a forced smile but either he didn't see that it being forced or ignored it. Whatever the case was the beeping stopped and I fell asleep yet again.

Once we got back I wandered off to who knows where. I spotted a waterfall and went over to it all the while thinking of how pretty it was. Soon enough I noticed a hole to the left and crawled through it only to find darkness. Squinting my eyes and getting a little more attuned to the dark I notice that there's a tunnel and quickly go further in.

"Oh this is a bad idea Emily. Last time curiosity got the best of you, you winded up leaving home and having these alien things attack you." I said to myself trying to turn around. But curiosity had other plans and it didn't involve going back so with a sigh I gave up and headed deeper into the tunnel. Just then I heard my name being called by the three amigos and shouted back that I was in the tunnel. I heard footsteps so obviously they had heard me and started coming after me.

Eventually I got to the end of the tunnel only to find what I believe was a door. Strange part was that there was no knob or keyhole. By this time the others caught up and witnessed what had happened next. I took another step closer and these black creatures showed up.

"Heartless!" Riku and Sora shouted in unison as they got out their keyblades. Kairi also got out hers and they began fighting these so called heartless. One tried attacking me but I swiped at it with my keyblade making it disappear. After who knows how long the battle was finally over and everyone was bent over with their hands on their knees huffing, including myself.

"Told. You. I've been. Practicing." Kairi said between breaths.

"You. Were. Great. Kairi." Sora replied grinning so widely I had to blink a few times to make sure his grin was real. He straightened up and took Kairi's hand in his own as they headed out. Riku nodded his head toward the entrance, obviously telling me to go on. I did as he silently instructed me; half believing he would follow me out. The other half was correct though because I didn't hear any footsteps tag along behind me.

'_I wonder what he's doing?'_ I thought to myself but quickly shook the thought from my head. I had enough odd experiences for a lifetime. But a gut feeling told me I was in for a whole lot more.

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Riku's POV

_'Why did the Door appear again? And why did another keyblader show up? What is going on?'_ I pondered, not knowing what all of this meant. I knew one thing was for sure though, our so-called peaceful days were going to come to an end once again.

"RIKU! WHAT'RE YOU DOING? WE'RE ALL GOING TO HOLLOW BASTION!" I heard Sora call out from outside of the cave. I shouted back that I was on my way and, after taking one last look at the Door, I ran out of the tunnel.


	3. Ch 3- Enter Lady Hearts!

**Chapter 3: Enter Lady Hearts**

Alyce's POV

_It's been almost two weeks since the incident. I still don't know what to think of it. I was walking down __the back-way__ trying to hurry home and out of nowhere I run into a black hole and was encased in darkness. Everywhere I looked was nothing but blackness, I became so scared though I started to fall asleep after a while. My parents said that I was gone for three days during the incident. But I've already told you this. It's just still so hard to believe. __I don't even know how I got out of there. I could hear a male's voice saying I needed to wake up and when I opened my eyes, I found myself outside in the alleyway where I was encased__. Quite honestly I wonder what is wrong with my mentality state._

"Alyce! Come on you're going to be late to the dance!" the familiar voice of my sister, Anabelle, called from the front room.

"Coming!" I said signing my name in the diary I just wrote in. Yes I know, I'm a sixteen year old who still writes in a diary but without that I have no way of thinking through my thoughts besides to talk to someone about it. But then I would be thrown in the mental hospital for my crazy fairytale. I checked myself in the mirror one more time to make sure my silk, off-white, thin strapped dress with black beaded flowers coming from my waist up had no wrinkles or spots on it. It was flawless so I checked my golden blonde hair next. The two curls were still in place as well as the tiara in front of my bun with a braid around the base of the bun.

"Hurry up!" my sister yelled again. Grunting I walked down the hall and the stairs all the while having my eyes narrowed at my impatient sister.

"Where's your make up? You need it to hide that face of yours. Better yet, get a mask," My oh-so-loving sister mocked.

"I don't need to wear make-up and look like a circus clown unlike some people like you and as for the mask, yeah sure I'll get it as a present for your pig face." I sneered back with a smirk on my face. The air was so thick with tension from the two of us that the maid was shaking when she told us our mother was waiting outside in the limo. We both gave a 'hmph' at each other and started walking to the door.

"For heaven's sake why must you two always take so long?" my mother asked while applying more lipstick to her already apple red lips. I don't know if I hid my disgust well but mother didn't seem to take notice so I guess it didn't matter either way. After what seemed like forever we were at the dance. No not a school dance, a rich man's formal waltz kind of dance. As soon as we got through the doors I looked around the entire room for an exit. I spotted two double doors on each side that led out so I carefully snuck over there hoping to leave. Unfortunately lady luck didn't seem to be on my side for the host of the party showed up behind me.

"Good evening miss Alyce. How does the fair lady do on this fine night?" he asked in a way too formal tone. He then took my hand and kissed the top of it. I snapped it back and started rubbing my hand subconsciously. He had good intentions but he didn't know when to take a hint and was way too clingy. Plus he wasn't all that attractive and too much of a flirt. He thought since he had a lot of cash he could get away with it; and for the most part he was right. Except in my case. I mean I'm above the poverty line as well but even if I wasn't he has no right to play with girls' hearts like that; and I sure as hell wasn't going to let him play with mine.

"Hello Kaden," I replied with a sigh.

"Where may I ask you are going?" he asked while inching towards the door.

"Just out to the garden for some fresh air. Don't you want to go talk with my sister? She's really into you and is just dying to get to dance with you. She says that you're really handsome and charming," I said with a smile hoping the black-haired man, who was not the fittest of men, would buy it. Unfortunately that didn't seem to be the case because he narrowed his brown colored eyes at me in suspicion. Then I got really scared when his face lit up and an invisible light bulb went off in his head.

"Well why don't we go out together then? As for your sister I can always talk with her later in the evening," he asked with a grin that stretched as far as it could. I looked everywhere trying to find an excuse to get away from him when I noticed a maze was in the garden. Giving him the same smile he gave me I answered sure and off we went to the gardens. Once we got there I made a mad dash towards the maze and right into…a black hole. There was no time for me to stop and when I turned around all I saw was black with my wide green-blue sea colored eyes.

'_Oh god not again. I must be dreaming,'_ I thought nervously while pinching myself to hopefully wake up. All I achieved though was giving myself a jolt of pain and a red mark on my pale colored arm. Now I had no idea what to do. I was so frozen, I fell to the ground in tears. Thoughts of monsters coming out to grab me filled my mind to the point I couldn't function. Just as I was ready to give up hope, a bright light started coming at me. I had to shield my eyes and when I was able to see again I saw…a town?

"Okay I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore," I muttered to myself as I began to regain my composure through deep breaths. After a few minutes of settling myself I started taking a look around to get an idea of where I was. There were stores with a lot of lights, which helped me stay sane, though the fact that it was night and deserted made the streets seem very eerie. I started wandering around and out of nowhere these black like creatures showed up. They reminded me of ants with bent antennae and fewer legs. They also looked like the images of the monsters I see when I'm alone in a pitch black place. I was about to scream when a guy with black hair flipped in midair and started swinging a blade in the form of a key, taking out those ant creatures.

"Jeez dontcha know not ta be out at night? And what's with that get up?" She, I realized after she spoke, lectured me swishing her bangs that she had out of her right eye just to have it fall back in the same place.

"Um. Well you see…I have no explanation except I came out of a black hole," I replied shakily not being able to look into her garnet colored eyes that looked menacing when she narrowed them. I took this time to notice that she was wearing black cargo pants with white zippers which started at the bottom and went up about a couple inches and a baggy dull green jacket that was zipped up three-quarters of the way with a zipper pocket on her chest and two more pockets at the bottom. Beneath the jacket, which had a huge zipper to zip it up, was a plain white tank top.

After I finished explaining her eyes narrowed a lot less and even though a frown was still there across her face she looked a lot less frightening. She told me to follow her and having nowhere else to go I decided it would be best to follow her. She did save me after all so she couldn't be too bad. That was my first thought at least until she started lecturing me again about being out at night and wearing a fancy dress was going to get me in a lot more trouble.

After about a minute of her lecturing I blew a fuse, "Will you just shut up!? I just got here I don't know anything and I even believe I am going insane! I don't need your lectures miss know-it-all! Hell I don't even know your name!"

She looked at me with eyes asking, "Are ya crazy?"

'_Yes. Yes I am.'_ My conscious replied but I was frustrated and confused so I didn't care. Instead we had a staring contest which, after about a minute, I won because she turned around and started walking away. I thought I saw a smirk but I wasn't positive.

Just then a bunch of the giant ants showed up again. This time they brought some new friends. They were red and looked like floating bells. They even moved like bells. The black haired woman got into a fighting position and a light appeared around her right hand and an oversized key took the light's place. Said key had three hearts forming an upside down triangle as the bit, the base was white with black hearts and had some writing on the end, and the top of the key was a heart which was cut in half so the woman could hold the oversized key. She started attacking the ant creatures and even called out some spells to get rid of the bell like creatures.

"Name's Riley. Call me Raven though." An annoyance tone in her voice made me sure that I was imagining that smile on her face earlier.

"I'm Alyce. So where is it we're going and _what are those creatures_?" I said jogging to catch up to her.

"Ta some of my friends' place. They'll give ya help and figure out why yer here. And as for those 'creatures' they're called Heartless. They're hearts of people who have lost ta darkness." Raven explained.

"Okay." I stuttered becoming more confused by the minute. Luckily for me it seemed as if we had made it to her friends' place. It looked like it was in a secluded place; there were no other doors and was hidden by a bunch of walls.

"Yo Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, there's a gal 'ere that says she came through a portal of darkness," Riley explained while gesturing her hand towards me nonchalantly.

Suddenly a short black haired girl came a few inches from me and started inspecting me. "Well she's definitely not from around here," she concluded and then introduced herself as The Great Ninja Yuffie. I replied saying that I was Alyce and that it was a pleasure to meet her.

"The one leaning against the wall is Leon. Don't let his rough exterior fool ya. He's not that bad," Yuffie said with a big grin.

"And I am Aerith. It's nice to make your acquaintance." Aerith greeted with a soft voice and a warm smile. After introductions were done I started evaluating everyone. I already figured that Yuffie was the agile one despite her appearance. Aerith wasn't a fighter and was the nice level headed one of the group. Leon…I wasn't sure what to think of him yet. He hadn't said a word yet or moved from his spot.

But it looked like I spoke to soon. "So you came here through a dark portal?" Leon asked looking at me for the first time and pushing himself off the wall.

"Yes I did," I replied a little warily. His voice made me believe that he was the indifferent level headed one and by the look in his eyes he was a fighter. The scar on his face screamed he had a mishap; probably forming a dark past as well, hence his indifference like attitude.

He walked over to me and started examining me. He must've gone in circles about three times before he was finally satisfied and left the room saying something about checking up on Cid's progress.

"We need ta get ya out of that gown and into some…less formal clothing." Riley stated crossing her arms while looking at me up and down. I agreed and we set off to who-knows-where. After a while we went into a building. I guessed an apartment by the fact that there were a lot of doors with numbers on them. We came to one that had the numbers '108' on it in gold metal. Riley pulled out some keys and we walked into her apartment.

"Wow…" I gawked at the apartment. The living and dining area was very calming. It had beige walls with white molding. The windows had light brown curtains that off set her dark brown couch. She had a coffee table in front of the couch that was black which I'm guessing was a set with the dining table and chairs for they were the same wooden black. The kitchen was small but still roomy and easy to move around. She had a fountain that had water running calmly down the marble rock it was made out of.

"Why're ya gawking like that? It's nothing special. Hell if ya wanna see something ta gawk at why dontcha check out some mansions." Riley sneered. She obviously wasn't a fan of the rich the way she spoke about the mansions.

"I had a mansion at my hometown. I never really liked it. It was so big that it was quiet most of the time. Plus it just makes the owners very snobby. First thing I learned about being rich." I said sighing thinking back to the days when my mother and sister would look down on anyone who didn't have as much money as them, which happened to be a small cottage town on the other side of a forest that separated us. I didn't want to look Riley in the eyes in fear she might be glaring at me for what I said but to my surprise she started bursting out laughing.

"Well. First time I met a rich gal who has brains and eyes that work. Ya know I'm starting ta like ya," Riley said giving a small smirk which for some odd reason made me happy. "Alright let's get ya into somethin' better than those dressy clothes ya 'ave on. Follow me."

We walked down a small hallway into her bedroom, which was quite messy. I'm not a fan of messiness but I don't find it a crime to have a messy room once and a while. Riley pulled out some sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt and told me to put it on, mumbling something about it being cold tonight. She told me it was just to sleep in; that I probably had a long day so I should get some rest. After I changed I started heading towards the couch to sleep until Riley decided to yell at me.

" 'ey! Just where do ya think yer goin'?" Riley asked putting her hands on her hips.

"Um. To the couch to sleep?" I asked back in confusion. I would feel bad kicking Riley out of her bed and making her sleep on the couch after all, but that's exactly what she had in mind.

"Yer a guest. I'm not gonna let my guests sleep on the couch when they can sleep on my bed," Riley said glaring at me.

"But I don't want to kick you out of your bed and I wouldn't be able to sleep because of the guilt I would have if I did." I fake pouted back. If she thought glaring would get her somewhere with me she had another think coming. Yeah it scared the hell out of me but if I was going to be stuck with this girl I'd better get used to it and now was as any of a good time to start. We had yet another staring contest before she made a dash past me and onto the couch. So now she has a childish side, great. Admitting defeat I sighed and went into her room to sleep. When I reached her room I noticed there was no night-light; I wasn't sure why I thought there would be one in the first place. I went back out to the living room to ask Riley if it would be okay to turn on a light, she gave me the weirdest look but shrugged and said it was fine. Going back, I turned on a light and laid down to go to sleep after pulling my hair out of its bun letting it fall straight almost all the way down my back. The minute my head hit her pillow I realized just how tired I was and quickly fell asleep.

I awoke to find the sun was just rising above the horizon. I got up and walked out to find Riley still sleeping. I would go outside to take a look around town but in the sleepwear Riley gave me, I thought better of it. It was extremely baggy which wasn't bad, except the bottoms kept dragging on the floor and I didn't want to dirty her clothes too much. I then decided to go back into the bedroom and lay down and before I knew it, I fell asleep again.

I woke the second time to the sun hitting my face. I shielded my eyes but I was already seeing spots. _'Great going Alyce,'_ I thought to myself sarcastically.

"Yo Aly, time ta get up. I got breakfast goin' and the stores will be open now!" Riley hollered down from (I assumed) the kitchen.

I gave a groan of reluctance of getting up but I did anyway and made sure to turn off the light before I went to leave the bedroom. Walking out I noticed that her hair, which was short when she wore her hat yesterday, was actually long enough to reach to her mid back. "When did my name become Aly?" I wondered not being too fond of someone I just met yesterday giving me a nickname. After all there was only one person who could give me any kind of nickname and that was my father.

"Just now when I didn't feel like callin' out yer full name," Riley answered in a monotone voice as she flipped some pancakes onto a plate which she then handed to me. I was going to protest until I saw the food and my stomach started to growl so I took the plate over to the dining table, sat, and ate… really fast might I add.

"Damn... I guess ya were hungry too. Guess I should make more," Riley said after her shock wore off. Blushing I declined anymore saying that I was full. Riley nodded her head and she went to get dressed before we headed out to find some clothing for me. While she went to get dressed I put my hair in a side braid. I waited for her in the living room and when she came out she had the same cargo pants and baggy jacket on. She put her hair up in her camouflage baseball cap, which of course had a small zipper on the rim that started at the corner and went half way diagonally to the center of the rim, and we headed out.

We finally got to a, or 'the' since I wasn't sure if there was another, clothing store and I quickly went to look for something so I could get out of Riley's clothes. I ended up finding a rosy colored top where the sleeves didn't cover my shoulders and came down to my elbows and also had spaghetti straps that crossed on my back to help hold it up. On the sides of the sleeves were giant zippers, which I found a lot of clothing with. Then I found light brown, white, and black plaid skirt that reached mid-way down my thigh and dark grey leggings that came down to my knees. I also found a sleeveless light brown jacket with a giant zipper to zip the jacket up and two zipper pockets at the bottom and one at the chest area; luckily the zippers for the pockets weren't as big as the one in the middle. Next was shoes; high heels weren't the best to walk in twenty four-seven if you know what I mean girls, and guys, who have worn high heels. We walked into the shoe store and after careful deliberation, not really, I bought some dark brown boots with zippers in the back of them. Since my outfit issues were taken care of we walked back to the gang's place. As soon as we walked in we noticed there were even more people than last time.

"Speak of the devils. They're here now," Yuffie said with a wide grin and her hands on her sides. There were four people. Two were girls, one with blonde hair that was lighter than mine and was wavy, though was as long as mine and the other having long red hair. The other were two boys; one had spiky brown hair and dark blue eyes while the other…oh wow, he had beautiful silver hair and the most gorgeous aqua colored eyes I'd ever seen.

"Alyce, Raven. These are our friends, Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Emily," Aerith said with her usual sweet smile. As Sora's name was said he gave a goofy grin, kind of like Yuffie's, and waved. Riku just gave a slight nod and both Kairi and Emily gave a smile. "I'll go make us some tea. I'll be right back," and with that Aerith was gone.

'_So his name is Riku,'_ I thought while slightly blushing at the realization that I'd been staring at him. For evaluation I figured Sora was a goof off, laid back kind of guy due to his goofy grin, Riku kept a distance but since he was with Sora I figured that there was another side of him that he wasn't showing. As for Emily she was childish due to the fact of how she couldn't stand still and seemed to like to sway back and forth on her feet and looked around the room constantly. Kairi's eyes showed she wasn't much of a fighter but was in the process of becoming one. She stood very close to Sora and with the eyes she was giving him it was obvious she liked him. As to whether they were a couple or not I had yet to figure out.

"So what brings you guys here?" I asked trying to get a conversation going to relax myself.

"We're trying to figure out why I have this keyblade," Emily explained nervously, scratching the back of her head. Riley and I looked at her with wide eyes which probably didn't help her nervousness.

"Is it something like this?" Riley asked getting her heart-like keyblade out.

"IT'S A LOT LIKE THAT!" Emily beamed while getting her own clover keyblade out. I started shuffling my feet at that point. I was the only one who either couldn't use or don't have a 'keyblade' yet I had a feeling that I was like them.

"What about you Alyce? Can you use a keyblade?" Sora asked curiously.

"I'm…not sure. I've never er…" I started but couldn't find the right wording to finish.

"Been able to summon it?" Emily tried to finish for me.

"Yeah let's go with that." I agreed not knowing what else to say.

"Well let's see if you can," Riku said crossing his arms while examining me.

* * *

Riley's POV

"Well let's see if you can," Riku said while looking Aly up and down. I raised an eyebrow wondering just how he was going to do that. The only way I was able was by nearly being killed by those Nobodies. Then after the realization my eyes widened.

"Oh no! Do NOT tell me yer plannin' on puttin' 'er out there!" I yelled at the silver haired boy. He just gave a blank stare in response which was starting to really piss me off. This guy seemed way too smug for his own damn good.

"Wait what?" Aly yelped after realizing his plan.

"Riku! You can't do that! What if she gets seriously hurt!?" Sora complained, hunching over a bit while shaking his fists up and down.

"She's not going to get hurt. Don't forget we have us, Kairi, Raven, Yuffie, and Leon watching out for her in case something goes wrong," Riku stated in a matter-of-factly way.

"I'm so not lettin' ya put 'er out there by 'erself." I glared at him hoping the intimidation would back him off.

"And there's no way I'm going out there," Aly remarked, scared shitless of going out there. Emily went over to the girl to comfort her though both girls ended up falling to the floor completely unconscious.

"Aly!" I yelled running over to the moderately thin girl. I bent down to check on her pulse and sure enough it was normal. She was also breathing regularly and her heart was fine too.

"What happened?" Kairi asked looking over Aly and Emily's unconscious body.

"I think girly boy here scared 'er bad enough she passed out," I opinionated venomously while giving him the nastiest glare I have yet to use. I guess it affected him because I saw his muscles tense and his hands tighten around his arms.

"I think King Mickey should know about this." Kairi suggested, getting a nod from both boys. The two boys shared a glance that said that they probably knew something and needed to talk about it. Looks like I was right because after the glancing they both left the room. Bastards keeping things from us; like hell I was going to just let them walk away like that. Following them I made sure that I wasn't seen. The fact that this place is like a second home, I knew every alley and hiding spot there was to keep from being spotted.

"Do you think that's possible?" I heard Sora's voice while hiding on top of a roof.

"They both fainted and Emily can't walk into King Mickey's castle without feeling pain. It has to be the case. Not to mention Emily looks way too much like Alyce to be a coincidence," Girly Boy stated; I was really starting to dislike that guy if you hadn't noticed yet.

"Maybe we should ask Alyce what happened when she wakes up," Sora proposed, making the Thinker pose and a worried expression. Riku agreed with a nod of his head and they walked back.

When they got back I was already there, sitting by Aly's side. I don't know why but she reminded me of my sister so I felt the need to protect and be there for her. I only took my eyes off of Aly to glare at the boys before watching the golden blonde girl again.

"Kairi. Riku and I are going to see King Mickey. Don't let Emily or Alyce leave if they wake up okay?" Sora told Kairi before grabbing her hand. She pouted a bit, making Sora flinch but agreed and pecked Sora on the lips before telling him to hurry back.

* * *

Riku's POV

_Later at Disney Castle…_

'_Wonder what Mickey has to say about all this. It doesn't seem to be coincidental that Emily and Alyce look __a lot alike__ either,'_ I thought trying to figure out where I stood with the events going on.

"RIKU!" Sora shouted snapping me out of my thoughts. "We're here."

"Oh." That was all I could conjure up still a little confused from being snapped from my thoughts. We got out of the gummi ship and started walking towards the King's library. He usually liked to hang out there when he wasn't needed in the throne room.

"Mickey," I said getting King Mickey's attention and making him jump from his seat at the desk.

"Gosh you scared me. What brings you two here? Find something out about Emily?" Mickey started asking while hopping off the seat and walking towards us.

"We're not sure. We found a girl named Alyce who looks a lot like Emily," Sora began, explaining our findings.

"They both ended up passing out at the same time too." I finished the report. That statement got Mickey into his thinking game, his usual thinking expression giving that away.

"Hmmm, I wonder what it could mean. You two think they're connected in some way?" the King asked, not even looking at us and instead started pacing.

"Yeah we do," I answered, folding my arms across my chest. I decided to lean against the wall, knowing that when the King started pacing it meant we could be here a while.

"It's too weird to just pass off as a coincidence," Sora stated making his own thinking pose.

"You're right Sora. But you said 'alike' not 'exact' right? That's not enough to support that Emily is this Alyce's nobody. Though it is funny if they both fainted at the same time. Anyway, you two should head back. Ask Alyce about what happened before you two showed up," King Mickey ordered.

"Understood," I said pushing myself off the wall and heading towards the door.

"Yes sir!" Sora saluted the King before catching up to me. I shook my head. He could be so foolish sometimes.

"What are you smirking about huuuuh? Thinking 'bout that Alyce girl?" Sora said nudging me in the side with his elbow.

"Yeah right sap." I rolled my eyes at him. Though I had to admit, she was rather pretty. When she walked in, the sunlight made her entire hair glow more golden making her look like an angel and her eyes were the most beautiful sea color I'd ever seen. Realizing what I was thinking I shook my head, blushed, and then gave Sora a glare.

"She was a cutie, and looked your type too," Sora retorted with a huge grin. But that didn't last long after my comment of telling Kairi that he thought Alyce was cute. I started running and Sora chased after me; I was chuckling while he was yelling at me not to tell her.

* * *

Sora's POV

_Back at Hollow Bastion…_

"We're back!" I yelled cheerfully as Kairi raced up to hug me, laughing. "Miss me that much."

"You wish. By the way, Alyce and Emily haven't woken up yet." Kairi stated as she let go and grabbed my hand to drag me into the hideout. I hear Riku chuckle behind me as he walked behind us to the hideout.


	4. Ch 4- Betrayal and Nasty Friendships

**Chapter 4: Betrayals and Nasty Friendships**

Alyce's POV

'_Where am I?'_ I wondered as I began to open my eyes. The last thing I remembered was someone calling out to me and then I fainted. The same person who told me to wake up back in my world ironically enough.

'_Oh I'm falling…wait I'm falling!'_ I jumped in shock and tried to push myself upright. It took a minute but I was finally head up instead of feet up.

"Which path shall you choose?" the same voice that was calling me asked. Once he finished speaking a small light came towards me, taking the form of a diamond keyblade. The end had small four diamonds making one large diamond and Greek writing. It spelled out Caesar. The stem was white with black diamonds scattered across it, like Riley's keyblade, and the top was a diamond with an X making four smaller diamonds in it. As soon as I gripped it a bunch of heartless appeared.

"Do not be afraid," the voice told me, which would have earned a mental face palm from me if it wasn't for the fact that I was surrounded in darkness and monsters were attacking me. Then all the heartless jumped on top of me at once and I fell into more darkness, slowly losing consciousness along the way.

"You need to wake up now" the male voice told me. A spherical light floated to me and as I hugged it I felt myself regaining consciousness. The light gave off very warm feelings, making me smile and hug it tighter if that was even possible. Soon enough I opened my eyes again to stare at a ceiling. Everyone looked relieved to see me awake.

"Hey ya feelin' well?" Riley asked me as I got up. I nodded my head, still in a daze from the crazy dream I just had.

Everyone stayed silent for a while until Riku asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "So what happened to you Alyce?"

"Oh that's right! I saw my keyblade!" I beamed thinking of the time the keyblade came to my hand. Then I noticed my arm get a little heavier and the same keyblade was there. Everyone's mouth was slightly open in shock that I could summon it. Riley summoned hers in response.

"What are ya lookin' at?" Riley asked while I inspected her keyblade.

"Yours says Charlemagne." I confirmed reading the Greek letters on Riley's keyblade. I went to go see if Emily was up, but I felt a hand on my shoulders and turned to see it belonged to Riku.

"Can I help you with something?" I asked him raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. I need to ask you a question. What happened to you before we came here?" Riku questioned.

"I'm not sure how long ago but I was dragged into darkness. I heard a male voice telling me to wake up, which I did, and then later I ran into darkness yet again and ended up here." Looking at him after summarizing what happened I noted that he was thinking, maybe a little too hard for his own good. I chuckled at the thought which seemed to bring him out of his trance.

I thought I caught a glimpse of a slight blush on Riku's face but if there was one it was gone in the blink of an eye and replaced with his usual collected expression.

"Hey! Ya better not be threatenin' or intimidatin' Aly there unless ya wanna die girly boy!" Riley yelled over at Riku who gave her a slight smirk in response.

"You couldn't even hit me," was his oh-so-clever comeback. I rolled my eyes at their childishness but couldn't help but smile a bit.

"Alright time ta take this outside," Riley responded, rolling up her invisible sleeves on her camouflage tank-top. They both went out the door and everyone followed them to watch the fight. Once they were ready, keyblades and all, Leon decided to show up.

Their battle started off with both of them running and clashing with each other. They were both intelligent fighters. After a few more clashes I'd found Riku to be the stronger of the two by a small amount. He would be able to push Riley's keyblade back just a few centimeters.

Then things got real interesting; Riley chanted a spell at Riku, or I thought so anyway. She missed by a long shot but instead turned the ground behind him into ice. So that was her plan! Herd Riku back to slip on the ice then she would have him. She ran towards him with wild attacks that made it impossible to judge where she would strike next. It drew him back just enough that he stepped on the ice and slipped.

She had him! But as he was falling he put his hand down and did a flip, trying to kick Riley in the process. At the last second Riley blocked the kicks and jumped after him. They did a few strikes in the air and as they were about to land Riley said another spell that sent fire shooting from her keyblade towards Riku. He dodged with a spin and almost hit Riley in the arm. Almost, because she twirled around the same time Riku did, getting out of the way. Instead they both hit each others' back, none too lightly either. Now both of them were on the ground on their knees and hands, huffing.

"Alright you two. Time to call it quits! Leon's got some interesting news," Yuffie announced receiving a glare from both Riley and Riku.

"Come on you two! We don't have all day!" Kairi shouted as we headed back into the house. The sparring duo reluctantly followed, muttering something about a rematch.

"Okay so here's what Cid found…" Leon started explaining.

* * *

Emily's POV

That nightmare was still burned into my head. I hoped that going out to train with the keyblade and fight some heartless would help but it did nothing but exhaust me.

**Flashback…**

_I was floating, that much I knew. I didn't want to open my eyes though so I didn't know where I was._

_"Open your eyes," a male voice told me. "Don't be afraid."_

_I did as the voice told me and I was coated in shadows. Then unwillingly I stood upright, shattering the shadows to bring light to a bedroom. As I gazed around I realized that the room was high-class. Silks everywhere, four poster canopy bed, a huge walk in closet, and a bathroom as big as the bedroom._

_"Wow…" I was stunned at how beautiful the room looked. That is until I noticed my voice was not my own. Walking over to a mirror I didn't see my own reflection. No, instead I saw Alyce looking back at me. I went to put my hand to the mirror to make sure the reflection was real and it was. At the same time as myself, Alyce put her own hand up to mine._

_That's when everything went horribly wrong…The mirror shattered along with the entire room, but not Alyce. All I could hear was the phrase 'don't be afraid' over and over again. Alyce summoned a diamond keyblade and my own! I tried to run but there was nowhere to run. Alyce appeared everywhere I ran._

_I was out of breath and Alyce was still following me. I couldn't run anymore and fell to my knees. The blonde came up to me and uttered the most terrifying words I would have never thought she would say._

_"Go back to darkness where you belong. You were never meant to exist here anyway," she stated as cold as ice before slashing down with my clover keyblade. At last I woke up in cold sweat._

_"Have a good dream?"_

_I leapt from my bed summoning my keyblade in the process at the unfamiliar voice._

_The woman laughed. "Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you. Just explain what your dream was about. I'm sure you're very curious."_

_I glared at her but she didn't show anything that was threatening and she sounded pretty convincing. I put away my keyblade but still kept my defenses up. "What are you talking about?"_

_"Do you remember when you were a little kid?" the woman asked twirling her red tipped hair. I tried thinking of it but couldn't. Why? Maybe I just had terrible memory. Yeah… that had to have been it._

_"You don't do you? Because you don't have any," the woman said almost mockingly._

_"What's that supposed to mean?" I sneered at her. "How am I even supposed to trust you? I don't know your name or anything about you."_

_"But you don't know anything about your 'friends' either." The woman snickered at my hypocrisy. "Well, it doesn't matter I guess. Why don't you try asking your so-called friends about your dream then? I'm sure they'll be able to explain it. Oh and once you find the truth come to the overlook of the castle. My name is Vexa," Vexa replied before making a portal of darkness appear before her and walking through it._

**End Flashback...**

'_There's no way I'm not real. Sora and Riku will tell me that. They'll say that I'm real and I'm being silly. It was just a nightmare after all.'_ I smiled at my foolishness of believing that woman. I was just heading back when I noticed everyone in a circle discussing something. This was perfect! Now I could ask everyone and get this agitated feeling off my back once and for all! That is until I heard Sora speak.

* * *

No One's POV

"So, wait… there's some hidden power within Kingdom Hearts?" Kairi asked astonished by the news. According to Leon, Cid had found some hidden data from Ansem's reports about a strange power lying within Kingdom Hearts. What that power was though was another story entirely since no one has gotten to it.

"And there're two people who can seal it away?" Sora questioned.

'_But there are three of us. Their math is off,'_ Emily thought, confusion etched into her face as she listened into the conversation behind a doorway.

"Exactly. One problem though. If all the keyholes aren't sealed then it's pointless to seal the other three. The other three can be forced open again otherwise."

"So the real question is why there are three people?" Riku asked leaning up against a wall with his eyes closed. He already knew the answer; one of the three was a Nobody. Alyce wasn't one because of the fact she got lost in darkness. Who was the real nobody though?

"One of them must be a Nobody," Yuffie answered as if she was reading Riku's mind.

"But who?" Sora wondered out loud.

"Aly told me that she lost to darkness so she's not one of them. If she did she would've disappeared," Riku ruled out. Sora gave Riku a smirk and wiggled his eyebrows earning an eye roll and glare from Riku.

"Emily looks like Alyce. I wonder if Emily is Alyce's nobody." Kairi thought out loud.

'_That woman was right,'_ Emily thought as bitter tears trickled down her face while she ran out of the house.

After Emily ran out, Aerith came in informing everyone she found another piece of information in Ansem's Report, "It seems like even Ansem doesn't know everything about this power. One of his newer reports after the one we just read stated there's more than just two keybladers. He said there is most likely four wielders."

"Then that means Emily might not be a nobody." Yuffie concluded with a big grin. Unfortunately, Emily was not around to hear that part and all four of the wielders' fates were sealed.

* * *

Emily's POV

I ran as fast as I could. How could they believe that I wasn't real? How!? I ran all the way to the overlook of the castle.

"Vexa I'm here!" I shouted towards the castle.

"Yes my dear? Have you learned the truth?" Vexa came with another woman that looked as if she had no hands her sleeves were so long beside her. "This is my comrade Lexi," Vexa introduced as Lexi gave a soft smile and held out her hand with the sleeve still over it.

"It's finally nice to meet you in person Emily without the hooded disguise," Lexi greeted giving an even huger smile that vaguely reminded me of Sora. Frowning slightly, I took her hand and shook it quickly before letting go.

"Oh come on. Smiiiilllle…" Lexi stated making my frustration at her grow. Why must she act so much like him? The goofy kid whom I trusted the most as a friend.

"E-hem. Let's get onto business shall we? Emily, I would like you to tail the gang for me. Try to lead them to the Kingdom Hearts keyhole as quickly as possible," Vexa told me getting a gawking expression from Emily in response.

"Wait, what!? You want me to go back to _them_!?" I hollered at the woman as if she was insane, which quite frankly, I thought she was. Go back to the people that you now hate because they betrayed you? Yeah, that sounds completely logical.

"But my dear Emily, you won't be on their side. I want you to lure them to the Kingdom Hearts keyhole so we can enter it. After we do we can finally exist... And not to mention you'll get to see the looks on their faces when you give them the medicine they deserve," Vexa explained so sweetly that I couldn't help but think her way.

It was true, they did say something about some power being on the other side of Kingdom Hearts and the looks on their faces once they knew I'd betrayed them as they had me would be priceless. 'Fine' was my answer and I started heading back when Vexa stopped me.

"Before you go... Your name while talking with group members is Xylace. It will help keep your identity while with the trio a secret," Vexa instructed. I gave a nod and headed back to the group's place. This was going to be a very hard task to complete.

"Let's go Lexi," I heard Vexa order Lexi as I walked away towards the 'hideout' if you can call it that.

* * *

No One's POV

_Back at__ the Organization's Hideout __in a room…_

"Nice work getting Emily to help us reach our goal," Vexa approved Lexi while giving her a smirk.

"All in a day's work. It's easy to fool others when you can be whomever you please after all. Do you think she'll be able to handle the task given to her?" Lexi asked with full blown concern.

"Don't worry, she will. She definitely will… My power of manipulation through speaking has yet to fail me, after all. Even our pawns are easily fooled." Vexa laughed at her comment.

"I still don't think we should be using them. I mean we can do this ourselves and… I don't know, I just don't think it's right playing with others like ourselves," Lexi muttered while shifting her weight from one foot to another. She really did believe this was a terrible thing and if it wasn't for her ability to change personality on a whim she would've given up this goal in a heartbeat.

"We need their abilities to fight off those keybladers when the time comes," Vexa stated coldly before walking out of the room while yelling at Lexi to make sure she didn't give themselves away, earning a sigh from Lexi.


	5. Ch 5- Training & Witch Deals

**Chapter 5: Training &amp; Witch Deals**

* * *

Lyrixe's POV

"Lyrixe, Vexa want you to go meet a new member. Help her feel more comfortable with us." Lexi came in my room relaying Vexa's message. I always wondered why Vexa never came herself.

"Eh? Where is she?" I asked, a bit curious as to why I had to go, though I had been extremely bored staying in this place.

"Watching our enemies from the inside since she gets along with them," Lexi replied nonchalantly. It only took me a second to give up a response.

I hopped off my bed and walked to Lexi saying that I would go meet her. Lexi made a portal to where the girl was and I was about to walk through until I suddenly remembered something.

"What's this girl's name?" I asked feeling stupid for not asking earlier.

"Xylace, and give the girl this letter for me," was all Lexi said before the portal closed behind me. I walked through the portal till I reached the end. Walking through I notice a girl with wavy blonde hair and green eyes.

"You Xylace?" I asked stepping out of the portal and showing myself to the girl.

"Huh? Oh yes I am. Who're you?" Xylace asked in kind of a dazed state.

"Lyrixe. Heard you're the same as me," I introduced, holding my hand out to shake hers.

"So… I'm not the only one? Sorry I wasn't very polite. My name's Xylace. It's nice to meet you Lyrixe," she said with a warm smile and gentle yet sad eyes.

"Nah you're not alone. We're in the same boat," I said giving a cheeky grin while taking her hand and shaking it. She chuckled a bit and then we heard voices outside Xylace's door.

"You with Vexa too?" Xylace asked in a hushed tone.

"Yeah. We're hanging out at a castle somewhere. I'll show you around if you ever stop by. Just don't let Lexi show you around… She tends to lose her way around a lot," I answered back. We both started laughing and then heard a knocking at the door.

"Emily is everything alright in there? You haven't been out here in a while now," Sora indicated while trying to turn the doorknob. Obviously since he failed it was locked.

"I guess I'll go now. Oh and Lexi gave me this letter to give to you," I informed as I pulled out the letter Lexi told me to hand to Xylace… Wait was she called Emily before? I was about to ask when she shooed me away, obviously to whoever could take me back to the castle. And there she was, Xana in another room.

As soon as I got back I just had to run into Lexi. She asked if I delivered the letter liked she asked and I responded with a sigh and a yes. Though Lexi seemed to act differently today, which threw me off quite a bit.

"What's with the personality change? You got some split personality issues? And what's with Xylace being called Emily?" I asked warily while raising my eyebrow at the baggy clothed woman.

"Heh, well, she is undercover. If we needed to talk to her around the others the other name will throw them off," she retorted as she put her sleeve covered hand to her mouth and walked away. Really had to be careful of that chick. All was not as it seemed apparently.

Emily's POV

"Emily why's the door locked?" Yuffie shouted through my bedroom door.

"I'm changing!" I replied. Changing? I needed to brush up on my excuses. After an okay from Yuffie I sat down and opened the letter I got from Lyrixe.

_Emily,_

_I'm giving you a side mission. While you're with the group I want you to find out about a person who lives in the tower where you are. Her name is Maleficent. Find out if she'll be a threat to us or maybe even help us towards our goal. If she will, I want you to meet up with her and discuss about making deal which we can accommodate. Xana will have a disguise for you if you do go meet her at the tower in Hollow Bastion._

_ Lexi _

I started pacing, thinking of how I would get information on Maleficent out of the group. After I walked back and forth about ten times, Xana, who shockingly looked like a twelve year old, appeared with the disguise in her arms.

I thought for a bit more after Xana left and finally came up with a plan. Heading out I hid the disguise, which happened to be the cloak Lexi used before at the island.

"Well look who decided to show up, Emily the Hermit!" Yuffie applauded while having a wide grin.

"Hey guys. I've been wondering... Who or what is in the tower here? And who're you two?" I asked ignoring Yuffie's over enthusiasm.

"These are my friends Donald and Goofy," Sora introduced the duck and dog like creatures. They waved cheerfully to greet me.

"Oh, hey, my name's Emily. So who or what is in the tower?" I asked trying to stay focused on my task.

"I'm not sure, used to be Maleficent," Sora pondered for a moment. "Maybe we should go check it out."

"No we should go look for the fourth," Raven rebutted getting a few nods in response.

"Who's Maleficent and you believe there's a fourth keyblader?" I asked feigning pure curiosity.

"She controlled the Heartless. That and manipulated people, good and evil and yes we do because there's supposed to be four keyblades and there's only three here," Riku answered hinting rage in his voice. Controlling Heartless? That would be a good way to get rid of them with the Nobodies combined.

"She did help us out when we were in a pinch though. She fought the heartless twice for us," Sora retaliated, receiving a nod from Goofy and Donald.

"So she's good?" I wondered, my brain starting to hurt from all the thinking.

"Not in the least!" Donald shouted blowing a fuse.

"Ahyuk-yeah, she just wanted to take us down herself and wanted the castle the Nobodies were in," Goofy explained getting glares from Donald.

"Nobodies?" I questioned trying to keep my curiosity act up.

"They're things never meant to exist." Leon clarified getting a shocked and hurtful look from me.

"That's terrible…" I replied hanging my head a bit. "Isn't there- wait…before you said Maleficent can control people?" I changed the subject, again trying to stay on the task at hand.

"Not really control, just manipulate," Sora answered this time.

"How do you know? Did you see her do so?" I questioned curiously, who could've been manipulated by her? Maybe we could get them again, or maybe even Alyce and Raven.

"Yeah… you could say that," Sora said a bit awkwardly.

"Why are you asking so many questions about things that are obviously personal?" Alyce asked crossing her arms across her chest. I couldn't tell if she was angry or honestly curious, I wanted to say she was being defensive but it was so small of an emotion it was hard to tell.

"I'm sorry, I just get very curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat you know." She raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah I do, but hey that's how I ended up going on a crazy adventure of a lifetime!" I beamed which made Alyce shrug and look out a window.

"Raven, you mentioned something about going to other worlds?"

What was so bad asking about Maleficent though? I supposed I'd ask the sorceress myself later. I snuck out of the room undetected or hopefully I did and went to my room to grab the cloak.

"Xana can you take me to Maleficent's castle?" I slightly whispered and got a nod in response. A portal opened and once I got to the other side I saw a tall figure with a different black cloak on with a staff in their hand.

"Who dares enter my castle!?" the woman roared turning around to see me.

"My name is Em- Xylace. I'm here to ask if you'd be willing to help out a group of mine," I introduced slightly bowing.

"The Organization. I thought that brat took care of you," Maleficent retorted. Obviously she wasn't going to be the easiest of people to fool.

"They did. And they tell me you want them gone, as well as a castle? You know that could easily be arranged. Your Heartless and our Nobodies combined. They'll never be able to stop that," I cooed hoping to sway her to join us. She seemed to ponder what I said for a while and then finally answered saying that she would meet with my leader. I thanked her and went back to my room to find everyone shouting trying to find me.

"Why are you all shouting? I'm right here," I said coming out of my bedroom to everyone either giving me blank looks or glares.

"We've been looking for you. We're going to find the other keyholes," Sora explained giving a usual goofy grin.

"Come on let's go," Alyce said with a light, cheerful grin and eyes to match. I thought I saw Riku smirk at Alyce's reaction but as soon as it was there it was gone.

I blinked a few times then agreed saying I needed to go get something out of my room. I ran in grabbing the hood, giving it to Xana, and telling her to take it back to Lexi because we were leaving this world and Maleficent would meet with Vexa and her to discuss a partnership.

"So where are we going?" I asked as we were getting in the gummi ship.

"We were thinking of starting at Olympus Coliseum. You and Alyce can learn to fight there since you'll need it. Hopefully they fixed the place up by now," Sora told me right before taking off.

"Where's Kairi, Donald, and Goofy?" I asked looking around for the missing people.

"They already went home. The gummi ship isn't big enough to transport everyone," Riku answered as we headed towards the gummi ship.

"One more thing…Raven are you a guy or a girl? The short hair throws me off a bit." I blushed embarrassed for asking such a question as we got on board.

"I'm a girl but A) my hair gets in the way and B) I'm taken way to lightly as a girl so I dress as a guy to hide that fact."

"With your voice it's not very hidden though," Alyce commented as we flew off towards Olympus.

* * *

Alyce's POV

It'd been a week since we started training and my muscles ached to the point they screamed in protest whenever I moved. We'd been training so much all day that my hair started falling out of my ponytail.

"C'mon Aly, you're not givin' up already are you?" Riku, my training partner, smirked trying to provoke me while I lay on the ground. Looked like my nickname stuck with more than just Riley but I was too exhausted to care.

"Just five more minutes," I groaned refusing to move hearing Riku chuckling at my childish comment.

"Come on. Tell you what; we'll stop if you can hit me once," Riku smirked holding his hand out to help me up. I took it and seized that opportunity to summon my keyblade and hit him in the lower ribs. He pulled me up while jumping back to avoid my attack, all the while grinning in approval. Lowering my position, I charged after him slashing to one side with my keyblade knowing he would block it and sneaked a kick on his upper thigh landing a hit. Riku pushed me away and I tripped over my own two feet and landed on my behind. Though I didn't care much because I wanted to lay down and rest anyways and that's exactly what I did.

"I landed… a hit…" I said between breaths, throwing my back to the ground.

"I barely call that a hit," Riku protested walking up to me.

"Barely which means it's still a hit," I retorted closing my eyes and letting the sun beat down on me. I was ready to fall asleep when I heard Riku sigh and I was pulled off the ground and tossed onto his shoulder.

"Eeeep!" I squeaked in an octave higher than my usual alto voice earning a laugh from Riku.

"Quit laughing at me!" I yelled in frustration my voice still in a high pitch. This made Riku only continue to laugh as we walked out of the training grounds. If it weren't for the fact that I hated people picking me up and carrying me I would've found his laugh cute. Once we were out he put me down so I was sitting on the square marble pedestal. Glaring at him I got off and walked out of the room. I saw Emily and Sora training but it didn't seem much like training. More like Emily trying to really injure Sora and him having a slightly hard time blocking her attacks.

"Is it just me or does it seem like Emily's having some problems with us?" I asked Riku seeing him walk up beside me out of the corner of my eye.

"You're right, but I'm not sure why. We'll just have to keep an eye on her is all; after all she is important like the rest of you," Riku responded in a serious voice.

"Another thing…what happened between you and Maleficent?" I wondered looking at him to find that his eyes became distant as he stared straight ahead. "It's obvious something happened the way you looked when Emily was asking about her. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, it was obvious you didn't want to when Emily asked which is why I stopped her back then. But if you do want to talk about it, I have a good listening ear." Before Riku could answer though, Sora and Emily started walking towards us, obviously done training for today as well.

"Well Emily's gotten really strong," Sora complimented with a wide grin.

"So has Aly here," Riku agreed quickly crossing his arms across his chest.

"Guys where did Raven go?" I asked deciding to go along with the subject change when I noticed we were short a body.

"She's been with me," a short, plump, half human, half goat answered.

"Phil!" Sora exclaimed obviously out of joy of being reunited with an old friend.

"Hey! It's the junior hero," Phil greeted.

"That's hero to you," Sora rebutted, annoyed at the word 'junior'.

"Yeah whatever, so let me guess this's Alyce and Emily right? Let's see what you got," Phil said shooing Emily and me into the training ground.

"You really fixed the place up. Looks just like how it used to," Sora commented looking around with his big goofy grin.

The fight was pretty evenly matched. Emily was a strong attacker, but didn't really fight without her keyblade. She didn't leave many openings either which made things harder. I remembered Riku telling me to use my opponent's strength against them and Emily had A LOT of strength. Every time she hit I was pushed back a few centimeters. Finally, after numerous hits and painful blocks, I found my opening. She came slashing down at me and I blocked tilting my keyblade enough so her own would slip right past me and I kneed her right in the stomach. Grunting in pain she fell to her knees and for a finish I put my keyblade next to her throat. Then a terrible thought struck me. It told me to finish her off; don't let her live. I gasped, my eyes getting a bit wider than usual and quickly put away my keyblade.

"Is everything alright?" Emily asked, a worried expression plastered on her face.

"Y-yeah," I replied looking at my hand, still wide eyed. 'What the hell? Why'd I think something like that?'

"Alyce what's wrong?" Sora wondered with full blown concern.

"N-nothing. I'm fine see?" I gave my perfect grin to hopefully comfort their fears. It seemed to work because they relaxed a great deal afterwards.

"Hey, Emily's missing," Sora observed looking around for the wavy blonde haired girl.

"Huh? Where could she have gone?" Riley wondered. Riku and Sora looked at each other and anyone could tell that they had the same thought. Not a second later they were jolting towards the entrance with me and Riley right on their heels.

"Phil! Emily's gone missing! We need to go to the Underworld. Can you lend us some of the coins?" Sora asked running up to Phil.

"What's in the Underworld?" I looked at Riku as Sora ran up to Phil hoping to get a better grip on the situation.

"Just some bad guy. It's nothing to worry about," Riku answered.

"That's oh-so-helpful," I snapped back at him rather harshly. By now we'd caught up to Sora and Phil.

"Huh? Oh sure thing. Here," Phil said tossing a bag to Sora, "There's should be enough for each of ya. Though maybe the gals should stay behind."

"That's fine. You can keep training Alyce and Raven while we're gone," Riku stated rather quickly.

"What no way! I'm coming too!" I whined in frustration; I wanted to know what was going on, not to be left out in the dark.

"No you're not," Riku snapped back rather harshly as he caught a coin Sora tossed to him. The two of them started running to the entrance and I followed right behind them with Riley right beside me. We reached the entrance and they kept running to these huge golden doors. The doors started opening to a cave so creepy Riley and I had to stop for a few seconds, doubt crossing our minds of going in, but we went in anyway.

* * *

Emily's POV

_Meanwhile at Hollow Bastion…_

"So you're back," Maleficent said not even turning to look our way. While everyone was surrounding Alyce I'd taken the chance to sneak away to join Lexi.

"Yes, now about the deal we were talking about," I began getting right to the point, I did need to get back as fast as possible.

"Yes, yes. I'm guessing this is your leader?" Maleficent oh-so-cleverly observed.

"That is correct. My name is Lexi," The taller figure next to me introduced. "You want our castle right? Once we get rid of Sora and Riku it's all yours."

Maleficent gave a smile that, in my opinion, was a little creepy and agreed. "So what first?"

"We're at Olympus right now. Maybe we should send some Heartless and Nobodies there? I wore Sora out pretty well," I stated.

"Those will never do. Those brats are better," Maleficent countered waving her hand in the air.

"Xylace, I'll devise a plan with Maleficent. You need to get back to them and keep your eyes peeled. Also talk to Hades. See if he can help you in any way," Lexi voiced. I nodded my head in approval as the baggy clothed woman opened a portal for me to go through. I took one last look at them before stepping through.

* * *

Lexi's POV

"Why not teach her to do that herself? She has enough darkness in her heart to do so," Maleficent asked me as the portal closed on Emily.

"Because it'll be too hard to keep track of where she is and where she's going if I do. She could run anywhere at any time," I replied in a monotone voice with eyes drilling the word 'duh' into her.

"I see. So what is it you're really after?" Maleficent asked, obviously getting to nosy.

"You'll find out soon. All I wish is to be a Somebody rather than a Nobody," I answered, keeping as much information from this witch as possible. "So I've heard from Xylace that you've manipulated someone in the past. Someone from the group perhaps?"

"Ah, that boy Riku. He was a fine puppet," Maleficent responded turning around giving me a smirk. "You have some plan involving him I take it?"

"That is yet to be seen. I'll keep you updated on what is going on. And if you have anything you need to share with us, you know where to look," I told the black robed sorceress as I left Hollow Bastion for home.

Finally back at Castle Oblivion, I headed straight to Vexa's chambers to share the info I received.

"Vexa, I have some good news," I told her as I walked into her study chambers.

"What is it?" Vexa said impatiently.

"One of the members, Riku, has been manipulated once before," I repeated getting a wide eyed grin from Vexa.

"Ahahahaha! That _is _good news…" Vexa cooed as she laughed maniacally. I backed up a few paces. Her laugh always creeped me out a little.


	6. Ch 6- Eyes In the Dark

**Chapter 6: Eyes in the Dark**

No one's POV

Riku and Sora ran towards the Underworld, not noticing the girls following behind them since they were lighter on their feet than the boys were. They kept running non-stop even once they got to the Underworld. Meanwhile, Alyce and Raven were running after the boys in the Underworld trying to catch up to them until a wave of nausea hit them. Unfortunate to Raven, Alyce was too stubborn to give up just yet so she kept on going. Raven caught up and put Alyce's arm around her shoulder and did the same with her arm. They leaned on each other to keep going from that point on.

* * *

Riley's POV

'Where is that kid!?' I thought, annoyed while we all scrambled everywhere looking for her. "Did you find her?" and "Emily!" echoed all over the forsaken, dreary place that Sora called the Underworld.

'Man this place stinks like rotting flesh,' I thought, my mind starting to wander.

"_Riley! Riley!"_

"_Don't come any closer! Get out of 'ere!"_

"_Why big sis?"_

"-en. Raven! RAVEN!" I was pulled back to reality by Aly yelling at my face with a look of concern.

"Yeah?" I answered in a confused state.

"We're going deeper in. Come on!" Aly instructed as she limped on ahead. Something seemed off about her, besides having to limp from who-knows-what, like she was scared of this place. It did look really creepy but I didn't think that it would affect Aly this much.

'I better stick really close to 'er. Who knows what'll happen.'

We kept going deeper till we reached some floating rock platforms all connected together in a zigzag trail.

"You followed us all the way down here?" Sora gawked at us.

"Yeah, what of it?" I barked back, having no strength and feeling nauseated. I wasn't in any mood for this kid's hyperactive attitude.

"Riku, I don't think they're going to listen to us. Might as well let them tag along. Besides, you said it yourself, they're strong." Sora grinned at girly boy while giving us a coin. As soon as the coin was in my hand I felt my strength returning to me and I sighed in relief.

"You guys should stay here," Girly boy warned giving Aly a look of concern.

"Why? Think we'll show ya up?" I replied, arching an eyebrow and placing my fist on my hip.

"You wish… Look, it's really dangerous down there so just stay here. We'll be back in a minute," he answered while walking away. As we watched Riku and Sora walk away it was terribly quiet.

"_Big sis! Where are you big sis!?"_

"_Run away! Get out of 'ere!"_

"_No! I'll stand by you and fight!"_

"_It's too dangerous dammit! Do as I say!"_

"RAVEN!" Aly shouted at the top of her lungs to get my attention. I jumped slightly making Aly giggle keeping me from being angry with her.

"What?"

"I asked if you wanted to follow them," Aly pouted from having to repeat herself.

"Sounds like fun ta me," I grinned while walking down the same path Riku and Sora walked just minutes ago. Aly followed close beside me, watching her surroundings.

* * *

No One's POV

Raven and Alyce walked the path in silence, fearful that someone would hear them. It wasn't that they were afraid to fight. Honestly they were confident in their abilities, they just didn't want to draw unnecessary attention. It didn't help Alyce that this place was rather dark, making her nyctophobia, fear of what lurks in darkness, give her illusions of monsters, which lately had looked like Heartless. A lot of times they even forgot to breathe. And they were right to be silent and fearful, because the darkness held a pair of eyes.

'Why are you walking with her Alyce? Can't you see she's about to attack you?' the owner of the ice blue eyes mentally told the wavy blond haired girl when they locked eyes.

Not a second later the eyes, now an amber color, found Raven's. 'You're about to be betrayed. Better be prepared.' Both girls stopped, Raven summoning her keyblade and Alyce looking at the taller brown haired girl suspiciously.

"You want to fight?" Alyce seethed facing Raven with cold eyes much like the ones Raven gave when they first met.

"Why would you think that?" Raven countered giving the same icy stare.

'She's right. Why would I think that?' Alyce thought lowering her head, her hair covering her face which made her expression unknown. Raven sent her keyblade away but still kept her guard up, who knows what'll happen in a place so unknown right?

"Looks like they're less guarded mentally than we thought," A venomous tenor voice cooed.

"Not necessarily Phoenix. The black haired one is more guarded than you would think," the owner of the ever-changing eyes said in her cautious high alto voice.

"Guess it's my turn to shake them up a bit," the one named Phoenix chuckled and drew a sword.

The girls stopped, hearing the metal scrape against the sheath, but couldn't see anything. Just then a bright light appeared blinding the two girls and a screech deafened them.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Riku and Sora had been on guard ever since they split up from Alyce and Raven. They knew they both felt an unusual aura when they walked through the tunnel and made sure to be prepared for anything. They were close to Hades when the only thing they weren't prepared for happened. They heard a screech from behind.

"You don't think-" Sora started saying.

"The girls are involved? Whatever the case we should check it out," Riku finished, running back to the source of the screech, Sora right on his tail.

'Please don't let Alyce be hurt,' Riku thought as they drew near the cause of the screech. Much to his relief the girls were okay.

Emily's POV

* * *

_Meanwhile with Hades…_

As I stepped through the other side of the portal I looked around to find myself in a very dreary place. Then I spotted a man with blue skin and hair sitting idly looking completely bored.

"Are you Hades?" I asked walking up to him.

"Who wants to know?" Hades, I assumed, countered.

"My name's Xylace. I would like to ask a favor of you. I have a bit of a problem on my shoulder involving a kid named Sora," I started to explain when he fumed, literally, and turned from his blue form to a fiery red.

"That kid again!? I can't do ANYTHING without that kid butting his nose into it!" he hollered, jumping out of his seat before calming down. "So what is it you want from me?"

"I would like your help to get rid of him. Do you know of anything that might help?" I asked hoping he'd have something for me to work with.

"Nope. Everything thrown at him gets taken down. The only thing left are the Titans and they're locked up tight. So tight only that brat's keyblade can open it," Hades answered. He looked at me and, after seeing the smirk on my face, gave a confused look, "You have an idea Shorty?"

"I do, and don't call me shorty!" I yelled at him in irritation.

"Whatever. Anyway what's this plan of yours?" he asked sitting back down.

"Well, let's just say Sora's not the only one who can summon a keyblade." I smirked summoning my own keyblade. His mouth dropped and eyes went wide before a devious grin plastered his face.

"Ya know kid, I think this's the start of a _beautiful_ friendship," Hades laughed just before we heard a screech coming from the entrance.

"They must've found out that I snuck away." I narrowed my eyes at the exit trying to think of a way out of this. "Hades, I'll need your help getting away."

"Sure thing Cupcake," Hades replied waving his hand in a silent order to come closer to him

"Another thing, stop with the nicknames. It's Xylace." I hoped that whatever his plan was, it wouldn't get me caught.

* * *

Alyce's POV

After the blinding light and screeching stopped there was a giant fire in a bird form coming at us! Riley tried using an ice spell to stop it but the bird was so huge, the puny ice spell had no effect. We started running and soon enough the boys were sprinting towards us. We kept running until we reached the boys where I proceeded to trip over a rock and fall. I closed my eyes waiting for my face to make contact with the ground but instead I felt it hit fabric and a pair of strong arms wrap around me. I opened my sea green eyes to find that Riku caught me with a smirk on his face.

"Not too light on our feet are we?" he mocked at me.

"Shut it. Just remember I was able to land a hit on you once."

"Again I barely call that a hit."

"Hey ya old married couple. Get a room would ya!?" Riley shouted right next to us, almost making my eardrum break as well as making me blush deeply at the thought of Riku and I as a married couple. I looked at him to notice a blush on him as well until Sora cleared his throat.

"What happened?" Sora asked trying to get back on topic.

"Right! There's a giant fi-" I started to say but when I looked back there was nothing; there wasn't even any evidence that it existed, no scorch marks, nothing.

"A what?" Riku questioned raising an eyebrow.

"A fire bird," Riley finished for me. The two boys looked at each other, Riku with a blank face and Sora with a curious one, but even with their different facial expressions they nodded and looked at us as if they knew what the other one was thinking.

"I guess you should come with us then. Someone might be here waiting to attack you," Riku insisted before walking the direction Riley and I were heading just moments ago. We followed after Riku and Sora tailed behind us.

"Are you guys childhood friends?" I asked Sora and Riku to pass the time and to get rid of the awkward silence. Also I wanted to find out as much information I could about these two, no matter how irrelevant it may seem. It was always the seemingly irrelevant items that were in all actuality the most relevant after all.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Sora responded in astonishment.

"Earlier, you both had different expressions but when you looked at each other, you didn't have to say a word and you both knew what the other was thinking. It takes a long time to really understand exactly what someone else is going to say, so I figured you guys must have known each other for a long time," I explained as we continued down the cave of creepiness.

"Wow, you learned that from just an action?" Sora seemed too amazed at my observation skills, making me wonder if he's observant himself.

"Yeah, I have always been overly observant of things," I informed, a small smirk on my face. 'I need to be more careful. I'm giving away too much information about myself as well.'

"That's so cool! Can you teach me!?" Sora asked very hyperactively, but before I could answer we were walking up some stairs that I could only guess was waiting on the other side of the path. At the end of the staircase there was a huge room with something glowing green in the center.

"Oh look, it's Key Boy with some new lackeys," A man with… blue skin and blue fire for hair greeted.

"Where's Emily Hades?!" Sora shouted at Hades, who just smirked in response.

"Oh you mean this girl? Such a fighter she is," Hades replied while snapping his fingers. A cloud of smoke appeared along with Emily who was tied up.

"Give her back!" Sora hollered summoning his keyblade and getting into a fighting stance. The rest of us followed suit, bringing out our own keyblades and getting ready to fight.

"Well, you see, I can't really do that. She's an important piece in my game. Ta-ta now." Hades waved at us before disappearing with Emily.

"Damn. What could he possibly want with 'er?" Riley seethed, and punched the wall behind her in anger.

"Hurting yourself is not going to get any answers," I replied monotonously looking at her now red hand.

"Well one thing's for sure… they've left this place. Maybe we'll find them on the surface," Sora suggested. We nodded in response and ran back up the path towards the entrance. Though after the staircase Hades showed up without Emily.

"Ya know, I started thinking… Maybe I can make a deal with you all. I'll give back your precious _Emily_ if you can open a door for me. Whadda say?" Hades requested. Our response though was the lot of us attacking him, or trying to at least. He disappeared into a cloud of smoke again, and reappeared right behind us.

"That's too bad, and here I thought we could all just get along!" he shouted while his hair and body turned into a flaming orange. We all started jumping around trying to evade his attacks, sometimes trying to counter with our own. We got past him and continued running. We got to the end when he appeared right behind us and shot another fire ball which headed straight at me. I tried to dodge but ended up tripping over who-knows-what and couldn't get out of the way in time. Riku reacted quickly pulling me out of the way. It still hit me on my leg, resulting in a scream of pain. I looked at Riku to notice that he took most of the hit though and then my burn didn't feel all that painful, probably because of the shock that he took the damage for me. It was obvious he was in serious pain which was starting to slow him down, though he kept pushing himself onward as fast as his burned leg could carry him. I shouted at the others while summoning my keyblade and taking a fighting position.

"I'll hold him off! You get Riku out of here," I ordered as Hades started leisurely coming closer.

"What no way! I'm not leaving ya 'ere by yerself!" Riley protested earning a sigh from me.

"Look we don't have time to argue and if you don't help Sora get Riku out it's going to take longer and we'll all be a pile of ashes. Now go!" I barked as I charged at Hades. He smirked and disappeared only to reappear right behind me. With such a predictable move, I was already spinning around to attack him again. Only he disappeared again and I turned around to see him far away shooting fireballs at me. I jumped to dodge the fireball only to have more sent my way. Thinking back to dodgeball and how I fell and tripped over my own two feet a lot, I was praying to my lucky stars that I wouldn't be a klutz now or else I'd be done for. I kept playing around with Hades until I noticed everyone else had gotten safely to the other side. I ran after them hoping to make it without any more injuries than the ones I already had on my arms and leg. Luckily I made it and we quickly shut the door on him.

"Are ya crazy!? What if ya didn't make it out of there?!" Riley lectured me while giving her signature death glare.

"But I did," I replied chirpily, making sure not to look at Riley and sitting down on the ground.

"Alyce, you're hurt," Sora stated looking at my arms and leg.

"Well I'm not invincible, of course I'd get hurt," I chuckled lightly trying to keep the mood light. I looked at everyone with worried expressions, except for Riley who kept glaring at me.

'Why did I help him back there? It's supposed to be every man for himself. I guess I didn't want to owe him that debt of saving me,' I wondered as I examined everyone closer. As long as I could remember I'd had to keep my guard up and be suspicious of everyone, but for some reason all of that just seemed to melt away with those guys; especially Riley. It seemed like I'd known and trusted her all of my life. I wondered if it had to do with the fact that we were both keybladers of this Kingdom Hearts power.

"We should get back quickly," Riku proposed, each of us nodding our heads in agreement. We ran, for what seemed like the millionth time today, back up to the surface to find it in ruins. In front of us Emily laid unconscious and behind her were four giant earth-like creatures with a dark aura surrounding them, one made of rock, another made of ice, the third made of lava, and the last made of wind. There was also a very ugly looking centaur, a black cerberus, a hydra, a cyclops, and, what seemed to be the most worrying and seemingly vicious, Typhon. A very buff man, whom if I could guess correctly from my mythology studies was Hercules, was trying to fight them off but to no avail.

"Emily!" Sora shouted, rushing over to the girl with the rest of us following behind him.

"She's just unconscious," I confirmed, feeling for her pulse and checking to see if she was breathing.

"More importantly, we should stop those guys. I don't think Muscle Man over there is going to last much longer," Riley observed as Sora and I stood up.

"You guys need some potions? You guys look pretty beat up," A brown haired woman offered walking up to us. She had on a lavender colored, spaghetti strap dress and a darker purple scarf around her waist. She took out some potions and gave them to us. The potions instantly restored our strength and healed our wounds and we were ready to fight.

"Raven's right, ready Sora?" Riku looked over at his friend with a smirk on his face. Sora returned the smirk with a 'you bet' and a grin of his own before the two of them rushed off to help. Riley and I nodded at each other and bolted after them, keyblades in hand. The fight wasn't going so well, with all the cures and potions going around and the fact that we weren't doing any damage to these guys. All of a sudden lightning bolts shot down from the sky and people who were literally glowing flew down and started fighting off the monsters. Muscle Man, as Riley called him, got a bright idea and grabbed the tail end of the wind monster and started spinning. He sucked up the other monsters and when he let go, the monsters flew off into space. The glowing people all headed back into the sky while everyone cheered in victory.

"Hey, everything alright?" Riku asked when he noticed I wasn't doing a victory dance like the rest of the group.

"I was never good at celebrating a victory." I gave a small smile and turned to walk to a broken block so I could sit down. Riku followed me, taking a seat next to me.

"Why not? You always seem so cheerful," he questioned, never taking his eyes off me.

I snickered at his reasoning. "Yeah I guess I always _seem_ cheerful. Fact is I haven't celebrated anything in ten years… Not since I was six years old. My parents stopped throwing parties for every occasion and started working on making me a completely logical person who could always control her emotions to the point that I seemed to have none at all."

"That's terrible," was his reaction to my short story.

"Yeah, didn't go so well though… and being with you guys it seems to diminish little by little every day." I gave him a genuine smile, one I hadn't given in a long time. "So do you want to tell me the deal between you and Maleficent?"

"It's something personal. Don't ask me again," Riku stated coldly, making me cringe a bit at his tone.

"Sorry I asked," I replied distantly. Lucky for me, possibly Riku as well, Sora called Riku over and he got up, looking at me to see if I'd follow. I shook my head instead saying that I needed some time alone.

'What are you doing Alyce? This isn't like you. You should be more in control… you're being way too open with these guys… You're getting too attached… Maybe, just maybe, it's okay to… Maybe they won't be like everyone else? Who am I kidding, everyone's the same. These guys are no exception… right? I mean even Riku is hiding something that seems rather important that should be a need-to-know. Then again everyone has secrets, including myself.'

I contradicted myself over and over again. I jumped when everyone shouted my name at once and, with a sigh, I headed over. As I got up, I thought I heard a rock getting kicked but when I looked behind me, I didn't see anyone. I thought that maybe I was the one who kicked a small rock when I got up though it was very unlikely. Maybe someone was watching us. Before I could think anymore about the event everyone shouted my name yet again and this time twice as loud. So I shrugged it off and ran over to the gang.

"We're goin' to another world. Figure we'll come back when this place 'ere is cleaned up," Riley stated as we head towards the gummi ship. Riku was carrying Emily bridal style.

"Where are we heading this time?" I questioned out of curiosity.

"We thought of heading to Twilight Town. Let Emily see her parents and friends while we find out more about her," Sora told me as we got on the gummi ship.

"Sounds like a plan to me," I replied. 'I should definitely keep myself in check around these guys. They're going behind Emily's back. Why wouldn't they go behind mine?'

"Yeah, there's something we've been keeping hidden, for Emily's sake," Sora started to say.

'Maybe I spoke too soon,' I reasoned with myself. "Hm?"

"There's a power of some sort within Kingdom Hearts, the place where all worlds' hearts lie. To make sure it's sealed and to keep it that way every hundred years two keybladers are chosen to wield two keyblades to re-seal it." Riku paused, letting me take in this information.

"But there's three of us… Wait, Raven doesn't have two so there must be a fourth one…how's that possible?"

"You said you fell into darkness. When that happened you lost your heart and the shell containing it became a Nobody… who must have later been named Emily, or so we believe," Riku clarified the situation.

"So yer sayin' that Emily 'ere is one of our Nobodies?" Riley asked, her voice containing suspicion hidden in it.

"If you think about it then it would make sense, when you fall into darkness these nobodies are created. She looks a lot like Aly, and she fainted the same time Aly did. That's a little too much of a coincidence if you ask me," Riku expressed. Riley seemed to ponder the evidence he gave her and nodded her head in agreement.

"And Nobodies were never meant to exist…" I recalled from the conversation we had at Hollow Bastion. Sora nodded his head solemnly in acknowledgement. I sighed inwardly. 'Keep your guard up Alyce. Just keep your guard up. You haven't known these guys long enough to know what they're really like after all.'

"But we're not completely sure about this, so we don't want to say anything until we are positive," Sora continued.

"It's going to be a while getting there. Why don't you guys rest for a bit?" Riku suggested. Riley and I nodded our heads and relaxed in our chairs. I don't know how long it was, probably not long due to all the fighting and training that'd been going on lately, but eventually I fell into a deep sleep. I took a guess that Riley did too.

* * *

No One's POV

It'd been about four days since the gang disembarked from Olympus. Sora and Riku took turns driving the gummi ship and even showed Alyce and Raven how to work it in case of… Well, they weren't sure what the 'in case of" was but it was better to be overly prepared than not prepared at all. Again Raven and Alyce were sleeping and Riku couldn't help but glimpse back at Alyce's sleeping face again. He'd lost track of how many times he looked at her… Actually he never kept track in the first place.

Sora chuckled at the silver haired boy. Riku had always teased him for liking Kairi so now it was his turn. "You know, looking at Alyce while she's sleeping about a hundred times is a little creepy."

"Shut up…" Riku told the spiky brown haired boy with a slight blush on his face.

"So what are you going to do?" Sora asked Riku while giving a Cheshire like grin.

"What do you mean 'what am I going to do'?" Riku countered, trying to avoid answering his best friend.

"You know what I mean. About Alyce. She could have a boyfriend back at home," Sora stated.

"We've arrived," Riku declared, glad to get off the conversation. He went to go wake up Alyce, Riley, and Emily.

"Where…am I?" Emily asked groggily while sitting up and scratching her head.

"We're in Twilight Town. What happened to you?" Alyce asked, already awake and moving, but it seemed to pass right through the wavy blonde haired girl as soon as Alyce said Twilight Town. Emily's green eyes widened and once she realized Alyce was telling the truth, a wide grin broke out on her face, happy to be back home.

"Emily!" Alyce hollered at the girl to get her attention.

"What?" she asked rather coldly.

'First time that's happened, but then again she's probably excited to be home and doesn't want to think about anything but going to see her friends and family,' Alyce thought before continuing. "What happened to you at Olympus?"

"Oh that…well you see…" she began to explain.


	7. Ch 7- What Happened To 'Home Sweet Home'

**Chapter 7: What Happened to 'Home Sweet Home?'**

Vexa's POV

I was sitting, looking out the window when Lexi showed up.

"They're going to go to Twilight Town now," Lexi informed me.

I could feel a scowl on my face at this news. "If that happens then Emily isn't likely to leave again."

"She feels content there. She has a home, friends, and parents," Lexi opinionated until she saw my eyes light up. "What're you thinking?"

"Pay a visit to Maleficent. Tell her we need her help with this…" I instructed her while whispering my plan into her ear. She nodded and left saying that it was an awesome plan.

* * *

Sora's POV

Emily started telling us what happened to her when she got kidnapped by Hades. I felt really sorry for her; being a Nobody with no emotions. Sure, I didn't feel bad for the Organization, but Emily had become a good friend of mine.

Emily finished describing what happened to her. "So yeah, if I didn't do what he asked he was going to send me back to darkness… It really scared me so I opened the gate like he asked." Everyone was so silent, I couldn't stand it anymore.

"Well, let's worry about that later. Why don't we go find your parents?" I ask placing my hands behind my head and giving Emily a grin that stretched from ear to ear. She beamed at this and nodded quickly before rushing out of the Gummi Ship. The rest of us had difficulty running after her. She was so quick! I grinned, thinking of how happy she must be, knowing she would soon see her parents. We managed to keep up and before we knew it we were at a huge house. It wasn't as big as a mansion would be but it was still pretty big.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" Emily shouted in joy as she ran into the building. When her parents didn't respond, her huge smile started to fade.

"Maybe they went out for something," I suggested, hoping to keep the blonde haired girl from becoming upset. She nodded her head in agreement, her smile returning. Making her happy, I smiled back and Emily showed us some rooms we could stay in. Raven and Alyce got a room down the hall from Riku and my room. They both had a queen sized bed in them for us to share. After we all got situated I talked to Riku about what our next part of the plan is.

"Hey Riku, what should we do next?" I asked him plopping down on the bed.

"Let's start with asking around about Emily. Find out how and when she got here," Riku instructed while leaning up against the wall. I nodded and was about to leave until I decided to tease him a bit.

"Sooo, how're things going with you and Alyce?" I smirked at him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he answered with a monotone voice and started walking out the door.

I probed him for answers. "Oh come on, I saw you two hanging out back in Olympus. So what happened?"

"We just talked," he replied bluntly. I was going to keep going but then I saw his nose wrinkle and he summoned his keyblade meaning an enemy, possibly a Heartless, was nearby, but when we looked around, we didn't find anyone and we ended up sending away our keyblades. Then Emily came by to let us know she was going out.

"Hey I'm going to out into town to stock up on potions and stuff before we leave again." She informed us with a wave before heading out.

"Okay we'll come too!" I beamed, putting my arm around Riku's shoulder. Emily nodded and it seemed like she was happy to have us come along with her. More and more I kept wishing she wasn't a Nobody.

* * *

Alyce's POV

As soon as I got into the room I was going to be staying in, I laid down on the bed and started to think over all the events that had happened to me so far. I didn't know what to do anymore; it'd always been me keeping my guard up, but those guys seem to break it down as if it were paper thin. I heard a knock on my door and when I opened it I found Riley standing outside.

" 'ey, I was gonna go out into town and take a look around," Riley told me.

I smiled softly and nodded inwardly, sighing that I agreed. I had needed to take some time on my own and get my head straightened out, but it looked like I couldn't back out now that Riley was literally pulling me out the doors and into town. I guessed I'd have to do some major thinking when I got back.

"Wow. This place is huge…" I was awestruck by the tall structures, but they didn't seem to loom as much as have a certain… grace I guess I could say. There was still a lot of room in the street, or sidewalk I guess you could call it, and the colors gave off a calming atmosphere. While gazing around me I accidently bumped into someone.

"I'm sorry!" the girl I knocked over said as she rubbed her head.

"Oh no, it's my fault. I should've watched where I was going," I admitted as I helped her off the ground.

"You guys don't look familiar. Are you new here?" the brown haired, green eyed girl asked us.

"Uh… yeah, you could say that. I'm Alyce and this is my friend Raven," I introduced while sticking my hand out for the girl to shake.

"I'm Olette. Hey, I'm going to meet up with some friends of mine, would you like to come?" Olette grinned at us while shaking my hand rather firmly.

"Yeah, sure! We'd love to wouldn't we Aly?" Riley gave a closed eyed smile saying that I should just agree and go along with it. I nodded with my own smile and looked at Olette to see her eyes enlarge a bit.

"You're a girl? Oh I'm sorry it's just…" Olette tried to explain herself before Riley started chuckling.

The black haired girl smirked at Olette. "It's okay, my point is to look like a guy. Less to worry about."

She nodded in response and started to walk away, Riley and me following behind her.

"Hey guys, these are some new girls I ran into. Alyce, Raven, these're my friends Hayner and Pence," Olette acquainted us as we exchanged hellos and waves.

"You're a girl? Don't really look like one," Hayner observed looking Riley up and down. Riley sighed and took off her cap to prove that she was in fact a girl and Hayner nodded in approval before going to sit down on a box nearby.

"So where are you guys from?" the shorter of the three, Pence, wondered. We looked at each other not knowing what kind of answer to give.

"We're from…somewhere far away," I answer hoping that would satisfy his curiosity.

"Do you have a place to stay?" Olette asked with a somewhat sad expression.

"Yeah, actually we're stayin' with our friend Emily," Riley answered this time a little too quickly.

"You know Emily? Is she okay? We haven't heard from her in months!" Hayner shouted jumping off a box he was sitting on.

"Well it's only been one and a half month actually," Pence piped in on Hayner's exaggeration.

"Yeah? Are ya guys friends?" Riley questioned edging her voice with curiosity.

'_Oh I get it now. She's trying to find out more about Emily!'_ I felt my eyes widen a fraction after I grasped the situation.

"Yeah, we met her a while ago. She was kind of a zombie when we met her actually. She didn't know much about herself except her name and her parents," Pence elaborated for us.

"She was really weird, but when we started hanging out she got to be a lot cooler," Hayner added, now leaning against the box he was sitting on.

"So she didn't always live here?" I asked, feigning curiosity myself.

"Nope. Not that we know of anyway…" Olette answered putting her hand on her chin in thought.

"Hey, so she's back right? Do you think you can bring her here to The Usual Spot?" Pence asked rather softly, as if the thought of whatever he needed to tell Emily was upsetting. "We have something she should know…"

"Sure, but what is it if you don't mind me asking?" I urged the spikey haired boy.

The three looked to the ground, and for a minute I thought no one was going to say anything.

Olette looked like she was about to cry. "Emily's parents are gone. We don't know where they are. They just up and disappeared a few days ago."

Riley's expression turned solemn. "Alright, we'll bring 'er here," she assured while walking away and putting her hair back up in her hat. I nodded my head at them before jogging to catch up to her.

"Emily's not going to handle this well. She was so excited to see her parents again," I stated with a monotone voice.

"No… but she has friends ta help 'er through it," Riley countered, and said nothing more as we walked back to the mansion in an unnerving silence.

* * *

Emily's POV

'_Why did they have to come along…I wanted some time to myself…'_ I thought bitterly as the two boys and I walked into town. They kept talking about random things I didn't care to pay attention to. I wanted to get what I needed and get back… Eventually that's exactly what we did.

"Hey Emily. We're going to wander around a bit so we'll meet you back at the mansion okay?" Sora told me with his stupid goofy grin.

"Yeah. Sure." I replied, thankful that they were leaving. I started to wander back until I heard someone shouting my name. I turned to see Alyce and Raven running up to me along with the boys.

"Yeah? Something wrong?" I asked with an innocent touch in my voice, though I really just wanted to brush them off and go back home.

"We ran into some of yer friends… They have somethin' they need ta tell ya. They said ta 'meet up at the Usual Spot'," Raven explained, though there was something different with her voice. It seemed… cautious.

"Okay then…" I replied, handing my stuff to the gang and running off to meet with Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

I finally got to the Usual Spot, a room with a bunch of boxes stacked around and a couch, breathing a bit heavier than usual from jogging all the way here. As soon as I pulled the curtain back Olette tackled me in a choking hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" she beamed at me so cheerfully that I couldn't help but smile in return.

'_At least these guys are still here for me…'_ I thought happily while taking a seat on the couch, "So you met my new friends huh? They said you had something to tell me?"

"Emily…" Olette trailed off with a devastated expression. She came to sit next to me and hugged me tightly. This time the hug didn't feel cheerful… More like…comforting?

"You're parents went missing," Pence clarified, looking at the ground the entire time.

I looked to see Hayner doing the same. They looked like they were ready to cry. I couldn't believe it… They were gone and no one knew where to look for them. I don't know how long I sat there in shock but eventually I came to, and said I was going to head home. They offered to come with me, they really were good friends, but I declined. I had needed time to myself before… but I _really_ needed it now.

* * *

Riley's POV

"So what did Emily's friends need to tell her?" Sora asked me after Emily was far enough that she wouldn't hear us.

"Emily's parents are missin'," I answered gravely. I felt bad for the chick and hoped she wasn't taking it too harshly.

"We should head back," Aly spoke up after a minute or so of silence. The way back was filled with a heavy atmosphere and tensing silence. It was like a string wound too tightly, about to break. We finally made it back to the mansion and everyone headed back to their rooms. Once I got to mine, I plopped down on my side of the bed and my mind started to drift again.

"_Big sis! Help me big sis!"_

"_Hold on! I'm comin__'__! Jus' hold on a bit longer!"_

"_I can't big sis! There's too many!"_

"_Yes ya can! Just keep fighti__n'__!"_

All of a sudden there was a knock on the door and I opened it to see Aly with a forced smile on her face.

"I came to get you. Dinner's ready," she informed me with a soft voice. I nodded in response and walked with her downstairs to the dining room. The two boys were there already and so was Emily. They tried making small talk with her but she ignored them for the most part. There was an occasional nod but otherwise she stayed completely silent. She excused herself after barely touching her plate and the rest of us ate in silence. The only noise to be heard was silverware hitting our plates. Everyone retired early to their rooms while I went to find a bar or anywhere selling liquor. After I was about to give up, I found a bar around a winding alleyway and out of sight.

"One cold beer please," I requested of the bartender while taking a seat at the counter.

He brought me one and I took a gulp, grateful that I finally got to drink some beer. The memories and emotions had been flooding back way too often and hard, lately to the point I couldn't sleep well anymore. I needed to have a release. After a few rounds and getting tipsy, I left the money and tip on the counter and walked out. I looked at my watch and read that it was three in the morning.

I came back to find the place quiet as a mouse. I walked upstairs to find the light on in our room yet again, but when I walked in I didn't expect to see Aly still awake.

"You know if you didn't come back within the next fifteen minutes I would've assumed you'd been taken and woke everyone up to look for you," she said monotonously, though I could hear a hint of worry that she was probably trying to cover.

"Sorry. I'm back now, so let's go ta bed."

"You went out drinking…" I could see the hurt and disappointment in her eyes.

"Yeah, sometimes I feel like I have ta. Though I don't drink enough ta get smashed like most people." I sighed, just wanting to get to bed. Aly seemed like she had a lot more to say, but decided against it and joined me in going to bed.

This was what it was like for the next few days, including Aly staying up waiting for me to get back much to my protest, making me leave the bar earlier just so she didn't flip out and also she would get decent sleep since she was an early riser.

* * *

Lexi's POV

"Looks like just making her parents disappear isn't working. She's waiting for them to come back. The only plan there is left, is one that will throw the original plan out of the water. It involves the disposal of her 'parents'," I stated monotonously, wondering whether Vexa would be pissed or not at the news.

"Tch. Fine, we'll just have to train her here with Lyrixe instead of training with her somebody. I'm sure she's gained enough information from battling with her before anyway," Vexa responded, not taking her eyes off the window. I could see in the reflection that she wasn't happy at all about this, given by the fact that her eyes were squinted and showed quite a bit of anger.

"Alright, I'll have Xandra and Pheonix set up the plan then," I replied while silently walking out the door. Lyrixe was walking really fast in the opposite direction of Vexa's room, probably listening in on our conversation. I used a portal to get over to her as quick as I could.

"Whatcha doin' Lyrixe?" I asked in my way too happy persona.

"Nothing, just walking around. Sitting in my room all the time gets annoying," she stated flatly.

"Why don't you go practice with one of the members? We need you to get as strong as you can."

"I guess I could."

"How about I assess your skills huh?" I suggested with a wide grin on my face.

"Sure."

Man… this girl was duller than a rock.

As we were walking to the training grounds, I leaned in and whispered, "Also, don't think you can eavesdrop on Vexa and I or go behind our backs and get away with it. We're always watching, I'm letting you off with a small punishment during your _assessment_ but next time you won't be so lucky. Who knows, you might never know what it's like to be a Somebody." I saw her shiver and stay stiff for a minute or so before nodding her head.

* * *

Alyce's POV

It'd been over a week and I thought it was about time to talk with Sora and Riku again about Emily. Unfortunately I couldn't find either of them anywhere so I left the house to search. I ended up finding Riku sparring with Riley in the forest just outside of Emily's large house. Like last time they were evenly matched, though they had sweat on their foreheads suggesting they were sparring for a longer period of time. I coughed to get their attention and they put their keyblades away while walking towards me. They were breathing heavier than last time, strengthening my earlier beliefs that they were sparring a lot longer this time around.

"What's up Aly?" Riley asked me while wiping the sweat from her forehead with her arm.

"I actually wanted to talk about Emily." I gave a serious face, maybe too serious because the both of them were silent for a minute or two. Then Riku nodded, heading back to the light pink colored house with me following behind him. To my surprise Riley didn't follow behind the two of us, but when I looked back I saw her training again, deflating my surprise.

"So what is it you want to talk about?" Riku asked, walking towards the side of the house.

"Something one of Emily's friends said got me thinking. They said that she was like a zombie when they first met. She didn't know anything except her name and parents. It's like she didn't have a life before here. They actually said that too; that she didn't used to live here. She showed up a little over a month ago, the same time when I fell into darkness. There's another thing that has been concerning me; when she gave her explanation about what happened to her at Olympus. She mentioned she'd be 'sent back to darkness.', like she's been there before, but yet she never questioned being there." My explanation seemed to get Riku thinking again. I almost chuckled this time but decided not to; instead to try and control my reactions and emotions.

"Hm, thanks for the info Aly. That's a lot of help." Riku turned to walk into the house until we heard a scream from the forest.

'_Riley!'_ I felt my sea-colored eyes grow wider as I bolted to the forest. I got there and heard the rest of the gang breathing behind me. I frantically looked around not seeing Riley anywhere and feeling my panic rise every minute. _'Calm down! Panicking will do nothing but blur your logic. She has to be around here somewhere, or there has to at least be a clue of some sort of where she would be. Stay. Calm,'_ I told myself over and over again, taking deep breaths to compose myself. I finally did and noticed a path leading somewhere other than the town. I shouted at everyone at what I found while running in that direction. I ran until I came into a clearing where an old mansion was. I scanned the area but found nothing. I also noticed that no one followed me. I started to go back to find them but I hit an invisible wall that prevented me from going anywhere.

"I don't think so. We're going to play a bit," A lavender color haired woman cooed. She had on a black shirt that was too low cut in my opinion and the sleeves ended in a red color half way down her upper-arm. The shirt itself ended just above her stomach and was fringed in white. I look into her yellow eyes and got out my keyblade in a fighting stance.

'_Play? I don't have time for this. Let's just get this over with.'_ I glared at the woman who raised an eyebrow at me. "What?" I snapped at her.

"You're interesting. This'll be fun," she stated, getting in her own fighting stance. She didn't have any weapon that I could tell, but she could just be waiting to summon it. Either way I attacked first, bolting straight at her and slashing my keyblade upward. She easily dodged and came at me, keeping low to the ground. She was so fast I had no time to dodge and got punched square in my stomach. I fell to my knees and took one last look at the woman whose eyes changed to a sickly orange color.

"You don't want to get up. You want to rest from the pain in your stomach," she affirmed melodically. I tried to think differently but the pain in my stomach did hurt. The next second I felt myself losing consciousness while I heard the woman chuckling.

* * *

Riku's POV

I heard Aly shout something about finding a new trail and when I tried following her a wall prevented me, along with Sora. We looked at each other with worried expressions, Sora's more visible than mine, but we knew all we could do was wait. After a few minutes the wall disappeared and a woman with lavender hair ran right past us, laughing and carrying Aly. She shouted at us to meet at the train station if we wanted her and Raven back. I ran after the woman with Sora beside me, neither of us stopping until we reached said train station.

"That was pretty fast. I applaud you two," the yellow eyed woman stated, clapping her hands.

"Where's Aly?" I questioned venomously.

"And Raven!?" Sora shouted next to me.

"Mreow… don't get your britches in a bunch. They're right there," the woman informed, pointing towards the glass doors leading into the train station where Aly and Raven laid unconscious. "Don't worry, I just knocked them out. They'll be fine, though I want to see how you fair."

Sora and I summoned our keyblades and a guy showed up with a katana and started fighting Sora. He was strong and backed Sora far enough away that a wall appeared around the woman and myself.

"Name's Xandra. Let's have some fun now, shall we Riku?" Xandra smirked before disappearing. I saw her hand come up to the side of my neck and just barely blocked it. She was fast. Really fast...

"It's sad isn't it, Alyce finally makes you feel like you belong in the light. Becoming so happy in your illusion, aren't you?" Xandra whispered in my ear and in anger I shoved her away.

"You're wrong! It's not an illusion!" I yelled at the yellow eyed woman while she chuckled at me.

"Oh but it is, isn't it? You know what you did will always be with you, the darkness will always. Be. With. You." She emphasized every word staring into my eyes.

'_She's wrong. That isn't true…Maybe it is but what do I care. I need to get to Aly,'_ I kept telling myself as I charged after her. She kept dodging my attacks and spells with ease, all the while saying the same things.

"How do you think Aly will feel? What will she think when she knows what you did in the darkness? How you betrayed everyone." Her eyes were now an ice blue and her words hit me hard. Everything she said was true… I didn't belong in the light, and if Aly knew what happened… what would she think of me? She'd hate me for sure. Xandra started laughing and turned around, and I took the chance to attack her and landed a hit on her back making the wall disappear in the process.

"Xandra!" the boy who'd been fighting Sora shouted while bolting over to her. I was about to finish her off when a phoenix came at me.

"I'm okay. Phoenix. Let's retreat… for now," Xandra grunted as Phoenix picked her up and went through a dark portal, all the while glaring at me. I didn't care and ran up to Aly to make sure she was okay.

"She's just unconscious," I sighed in relief all the while thanking lady luck she was okay.

"So is Raven. Let's take them back to the house," Sora suggested. I nodded my head in agreement and picked Aly up while Sora picked up Raven to take back to Emily's house.

* * *

Vexa's POV

"So, did you complete your task?" I looked at Phoenix and Xandra with a glare in place, letting them know that they better have or else, but with the color of Xandra's eyes, which were yellow, I knew they did in fact complete their mission.

"Of course we did. He's starting to doubt now," Xandra confirmed my thoughts and I nodded sending them away. After they left I grinned widely and started to laugh.

"This is perfect... Everything is going exactly as I planned," I hummed to myself as I sat looking out the window in my room.

"It also seems that Riku and Alyce are forming a special bond," Phoenix informed me after readjusting Xandra's weight by hoisting her shoulder further across the back of his neck.

"More good news! I'm sure we'll be able to use that to our advantage. Continue keeping an eye on them with Xana and Axshin." I gave such a wide Cheshire cat-like grin that everyone stiffened by my action. This only made me keep my wide grin, knowing I had control over them to such an extent. It was beautiful and soon I'd be able to control more than just these Nobody pawns.


End file.
